Underwriters Laboratories - the standard in safety

Mattress fires were last addressed in 1973, when the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) adopted the current federal flammability regulation for mattresses that requires resistance to lit cigarettes. Fire researchers credit that regulation with helping reduce bedroom fire fatalities by two-thirds between 1980 and 1999.

But while smoking materials continue to be the leading source of deadly home fires, incidents involving candles have steadily increased. Candle fires have quadrupled to 16,400 a year over the last decade, with more than 38 percent of candle fires occurring in the bedroom, NFPA reports.

Another 8,200 fires are started by children playing with candles, matches and cigarette lighters. In fact, CPSC found that more than three-quarters of mattress fire fatalities involved children under age 15.

The fire safety community refers to lighters, matches and candles as "small open-flame sources," a classification that is different from smoldering cigarettes and one that was unregulated by prior mattress flammability requirements. Ongoing research by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and steadily increasing statistical data regarding residential fires prompted the mattress industry to discuss new requirements in flammability regulations with the CPSC.

"Consumers spend more time each day in direct contact with mattresses than with any other single product," said Steve Russo, president of Restonic Mattress Corp. "This type of regulation is long overdue in our industry and ultimately everyone will benefit from it."

In 2004, Restonic was the first mattress manufacturer to receive open-flame resistance classification from product safety testing organization Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Restonic sought the classification to sell mattresses in California, which on Jan. 1, 2005, became the first state in the nation to require that mattresses be resistant to open flame sources.

California has long been a leader in home furnishings flammability regulations. Thirty years earlier, the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation (BHFTI) had adopted furniture regulations requiring upholstered furniture sold in the state to be resistant to cigarettes and small open flames.

"Our commitment has paid off in making homes safer in California," said Brian Stiger, chief of the BHFTI, part of the state's Department of Consumer Affairs. "We continue to push further, developing regulations for bedding and investigating the impact of flame-resistant materials on environment and health."

Of the 10 laboratories that can verify compliance to the new federal regulations, UL is the only organization that offers formal certification and Component Recognition programs and places its classification mark on compliant mattresses. In addition to verifying federal regulations, the UL Mark on a mattress means the product went through a rigorous design and construction review according to UL standard certification practices.

Manufacturers allowed to put the UL Mark on mattresses also are subject to at least four unannounced visits to each factory location to ensure continued compliance.

"We get down to the stitches," said John Drengenberg, UL's manager of Consumer Affairs. "Our engineers evaluate the design of a mattress, the performance of the fire barrier as an envelope of safety and the assembly process. We continue to monitor that manufacturer as long the mattresses carry the UL Mark."

This can be especially important to consumers considering that the new regulation is self-monitoring and third-party verification is not required of manufacturers. Also, mattresses manufactured before July 1, 2007, can continue to be sold as long as they met the flammability requirements in effect when they were made.

"Consumers shopping for a mattress who see the UL Mark can easily recognize that it meets the requirements of the new regulation," Drengenberg said.

In 1976, a year after California enacted its flammability regulation in upholstered furniture, CPSC proposed similar regulations on a national level. The furniture industry countered, creating a Voluntary Action Program though the Upholstered Furniture Action Council (UFAC).

In 1978, the industry adopted construction guidelines that require upholstered furniture to resist smoldering cigarettes. The guidelines - still in effect - have been updated numerous times to reflect changing materials and technologies. However, CPSC estimates that as much as 20 percent of the furniture sold in the United States does not comply with the voluntary UFAC guidelines.

This has pushed critics to call for a non-voluntary federal flammability regulation for furniture. On June 1 of this year, the National Association of State Fire Marshals (NASFM) renewed its 1993 request that the CPSC develop a national furniture regulation similar to California's - one requiring resistance to cigarettes and open flame.

"Affordable technologies exist now to make upholstered furniture in the home safer," said John Dean, president of NASFM. "What we need is an agreement around effective national standards so that we can stop the unnecessary loss of life occurring each day across the U.S."

The American Home Furnishings Alliance, however, would like to see the voluntary UFAC guidelines adopted into a national regulation. The alliance said the UFAC guidelines have reduced the number of upholstered furniture fires by 85 percent over the last 20 years and contends that furniture fires started by smoking materials remain a greater threat than open flame sources.

"No workable solution exists for addressing fires caused by small open flames," Andy Counts, CEO of the American Home Furnishings Alliance, said in a statement. "Solutions currently being considered involve the use of flame retardant chemicals, which are as we speak being removed from the market by state and federal authorities due to their ecotoxicity and tendency to accumulate in fish and human breast milk."

"The resistance of upholstery to smoldering cigarettes has been achieved without the addition of such compounds. As the furniture industry pursues greater fire safety, it is critical that we not impose offsetting chemical risks to our customers and our employees."

CPSC does not require mattress manufacturers to use fire-retardant chemicals or any other specific technology to meet the requirements of the new regulation. The government agency said some compliant mattress sets are available that do not use fire-retardant chemicals.

As the debate over stricter flammability regulations continues, a properly installed smoke alarm system remains one of the most effective ways to protect you and your family from the risk of injury and death in home fires. Fire officials attribute the increasing awareness and maintenance of smoke alarms to a nearly 50 percent decrease in fire deaths since the mid-1970s.

But a NIST study in 2004 found that home fires burn hotter and faster today than when smoke alarms were introduced 30 years ago. The NIST study concluded that the time needed to escape some types of fires had been reduced from approximately 17 minutes to as little as three minutes in certain situations.

In response, UL and the Fire Protection Research Foundation (FPRF) recently completed a study experts say will provide valuable data to fire science engineers as they strive to develop new smoke detection technologies and help material scientists better understand how synthetic materials decompose in fires and may lead to safer materials in the home.

The $700,000 joint study systematically investigated the characteristics of smoke and how materials used in modern residential settings have changed the way fires behave in homes. The yearlong Smoke Characterization Project studied 27 synthetic and natural materials and various combinations of materials now more commonly found in homes.

"The initial results of this project reflect that smoke can no longer be characterized just by color or density, but that smoke is highly complex and chemically different based on each unique fire event," UL's Drengenberg said. "From the sheer amount of data we've gathered, we believe the results will change the way the fire safety community perceives smoke produced in home fires, which could further reduce the risk of injury or loss of life due to fires."