Upholstered Furniture

ACFSE CONCERNS

Furniture fires result in high numbers of deaths and injuries to European consumers each year. Based on empirical evidence and statistical data available, very conservative estimations indicate a potential lifesaving benefit from furniture controls of between 1,000 and 1,500 lives and between 10,000 and 15,000 injuries per year in Europe.

Many of these fires result from accidental ignitions of foam-filled furniture from small sources found in every home. Even if not the first item ignited, once involved, foam-filled furniture creates a major increase in the fire hazard.

The common causes of furniture fires such as careless disposal of smoking materials or children playing with fire, surely constitute reasonably foreseeable misuse within the meaning of the GPSD, against which products should be reasonably protected.

ACFSE RECOMMENDATION

In the context of the French Notification, and against the background of previous aborted initiatives by the European Commission, ACFSE calls upon the European Commission to take immediate and effective action to protect consumers from these unacceptable fire hazards by:

Adoption of EN 1021, 1&2 as a performance standard that confers the presumption of conformity under the General Product Safety Directive; and
Completion of the Mandate issued to CEN in 1990 in respect of the development of a larger ignition source to be used in harmonized standards for the assessment of post ignition fire behaviour. This would provide an alternative performance standard conferring a presumption of conformity under the GPSD

BACKGROUND

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS