Fire Safety Technologies

UK, EU, & US

Benefits and Costs

Green Science Policy Institute

Veena Singla PhD

Michel Dedeo PhD

Arlene Blum PhD

Toolbox for Fire Safety • Decrease in smoking

• Smoke detectors

• Preventing ignition: Fire safe cigarettes,

candles, and lighters

• Sprinklers

• Fire Codes

• Fire safety education

• Furniture flammability regulations

Benefit and harm for interventions?

Can furniture flammability

standards in other

countries provide useful

information to inform our

standards?

Furniture fires caused by:

Open flame Smoldering

Cigarettes Other smoking materials

Fabric over untreated foam

Crib 5

Foam covered in standard fabric.

Ignited with crib 5: 17 g pine.

Equivalent to 2 sheets newspaper.

Small open flame (BS EN 1021-2).

Ignited with 20 sec of 35 mm flame.

Smoldering cigarette (BS EN 1021-1).

UK Regulation of Residential Furniture

fabric

foam

2011 FIRA Flammability Guide

European Furniture Requirements

Country Furniture Material Requirement Standard

EU (voluntary) seat cigarette, small flame EN 1021-1/2

Finland, Sweden*, Norway seat cigarette EN 1021-1

UK/Ireland seat cigarette BS EN 1021-1

seat small flame BS EN 1021-2 filling crib 5 BS 5852

*In Sweden, furniture flammability tests are voluntary

Chivas, C, et al. Fire Safety Journal (44) 2009, 801-807

Benefits

Difficult to Estimate

Number of Lives Saved Depends on Assumptions

3

0 1988 2002 2002

2005 Report Another

calculation

Furniture Fire Deaths (per million persons) 1

Regulations prevent 16 deaths/year

Smoke alarms

Smoking drop

Regulations prevent 82 deaths/year

2005 EFRA Report: • decrease in fire deaths all attributed to UK Regs 82/year

• Including smoking and smoke alarms 16/year

• Including fire safety education and safer heaters ?/year

100%

66%

33% 33%

20%

27%

20%

2005 Surrey Report

Attributes decrease in furniture fires only to smoke

alarms and addition of FRs; no change in smoking

1988 UK Furniture Regulations Home Office Community Fire Safety Campaign

1991 Smoke Detectors Act

1998/2000 Community Fire Safety Center National Media Campaigns

2004 Home Risk Fire Check program

Fire Safety Order 2005

average lives saved per year 2002-2007

2009 Report by Greenstreet Berman

2009 report

54

21

math errors corrected

Questionable Assumptions further reduce estimate: 1) Smoke detectors contribute minimally to reducing furniture fire deaths. 2) Decrease in smoking affects cooking and furniture fires equally.

Fire deaths per million pop.

Netherlands Institute for Safety Nibra. Consumer fire safety: European statistics Versie: 431N8032/3.0, January 2009

Fire Death Rates in Europe (2006)

Harm from chemicals

and

fire toxicity?

Foam

Typical foam formulation includes:

• 20-25% melamine

• 5-15% Halogenated FRs including - TCPP

- TDCP

- TL-10-ST (2,2-bis(chloromethyl) trimethylene

bis(bis(2-chloromethyl) phosphate)

- TBNPA (Tribromoneopentyl alcohol)

UK Regulation of Residential Furniture

Keeping Fire in Check. 2012, EFRA

Keeping Fire in Check. 2012, EFRA

Textiles

Typically back-coated with:

• Antimony tri-oxide

• Halogenated flame retardants - Deca ethane

- DecaBDE

- Clorinated paraffins

- TTBPT (Tris(tribromophenyl)triazine)

- TL-10-ST (2,2-bis(chloromethyl)trimethylene

bis(bis(2-chloroethyl)phosphate)

UK Regulation of Residential Furniture

Toxicological Risks of Selected Flame-Retardant Chemicals. National Research Council. 2000

DecaBDE in Sludge and Dust Highest in UK

Sewage Sludge: Ricklund, N. et al. Chemosphere. 73 (2008) 1799-1804 House Dust: Harrad, S. et al. Environ. Int. 34 (2008) 232-238

520 µg/g

45 µg/g 12 µg/g

flame retardants previously used in USA

Asbestos

Carbon tetrachloride

Halons

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs)

Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)

Halogenated organics:

• pentaBDE

• octaBDE

• decaBDE

• Dechlorane (Mirex)

• Brominated Tris

• Chloinated Tris (TDCPP)

Highest PentaBDE levels in Human Tissue

in Californians

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

1981 1983 1985 1987 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000

PB

DE-

47

, ng

/g li

pid

s

California (adipose) Sweden (serum) Germany (whole blood) Canada (milk) Finland (milk) Japan (milk) Sweden (milk)

Petreas, et al 2001

Health effects

• Long term impacts

– Interference with thyroid hormone action

– Neurodevelopment: Decreased IQ, hyperactivity,

autism??

– Reproductive system effects: reduced ovarian

follicles, reduced sperm

– Birth Defects: Cryptorchidism, hypospadias

– Endocrine disruption, obesity

– Cancer

Currently 3,900 scientific articles

about PBDEs

ISI Web of Science and Vonderheide et al, 2008

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

19851987198919911993199519971999200120032005200720092011

Nu

mb

er

of

Pu

bli

cati

on

s

Publication Year

PentaBDE human health associations

associated with Higher pentaBDE

lower birth weight

impaired attention

poorer coordination

lowered IQ

birth defects

longer time to get pregnant

altered thyroid hormones

Main 2007; Eskenazi et al, 2010, 2011, 2012

Toddlers have about three times the flame

retardant level of their mothers

© Rita Quinn

Lunder 2010; Bradman 2012

California

open flame standards

• TB 117:

Twelve second small open flame and smolder

standard for filling materials used in upholstered

furniture.

CALIFORNIA FURNITURE FLAMMABILITY STANDARDS

Home fires that began with upholstered furniture, NFPA, Aherns, Aug 2011

Smoking materials cause the most fire deaths

Smoking materials (addressed by smolder standard)

Candles, lighters, matches (addressed by TB117)

U.S. civilian deaths from home upholstered furniture fires,1980-2009

Smolder vs. open flame fires

Smolder fires • The majority, relatively easy to prevent

• Flame retardants not needed to meet smolder standards

Open flame fires

• Small number, difficult to prevent

• TB117 impacts:

– no significant fire safety benefit

– global PentaBDE contamination

: Monday, June 18, 2012

California State Agencies Directed to Change Open Flame Standard

TB117-2013

– Smolder standards for fabric

– Increased fire safety without flame retardants

– 85% of fabrics already pass

– 15% need to have a layer of non-FR polyester batting between fabric and foam

• TB 133:

Severe flammability test procedure for

composite testing of seating furniture for use in

public occupancies.

Currently cannot be economically met without

flame retardant chemicals in the fabric, the

foam and/ or in the barriers

Comparison of furniture flammability

regulations

Open flame Smolder

Regulation How met? Regulation How met?

EU EN 1021-1

Flame retardants not commonly used

UK FFR (1988)/ BS 5852

Flame retardants/ barriers

CA TB117-2013

Flame retardants not needed

CA TB117 Flame retardants

CPSC 16 CFR 1634

Flame retardants not needed

CA TB133 Flame retardants/ barriers

New CPSC standard?

Can Furniture Flammability Standards in other

countries provide a model?

• Smolder standard in the EU, outside the

UK, are met without flame retardants.

• Open flame standards in California and the

UK have led to high levels of flame

retardants in dust and humans.

Significant fire safety benefit?

• Smolder standards such as 16CFR1634

can increase fire safety without flame

retardant chemicals

Toolbox for Fire Safety • Decrease in smoking

• Smoke detectors

• Preventing ignition: Fire safe cigarettes,

candles, and lighters

• Sprinklers

• Fire Codes

• Fire safety education

• Furniture flammability regulations:

– Smolder: TB117-2013 and 16CFR1634

– Open flame “Barrier” standard

Benefit and harm for interventions?

With improved flammability standards

We can have increased fire safety

and a healthier world.

Google: Green Science Policy www.greensciencepolicy.org