UPHOLSTERED FURNITURE (SAFETY) REGULATIONS 1980 (Hansard, 22 May 1980)

§ LORD LYELL
My Lords, I beg to move that the Upholstered Furniture (Safety) Regulations 1980, to be made under the Consumer Safety Act 1978, be approved. The proposal to make these regulations is prompted by the realisation that statutory intervention is necessary to reduce the fire risk presented by much of the modern upholstered furniture on sale to the public, about which for some time past there has been considerable concern. This concern has arisen primarily on account of the use of polyurethane foam as a filling material, although fire hazards are by no means confined to furniture containing polyurethane foam, 1074 and neither, therefore, is the scope of the proposed regulations.
Most of the upholstered furniture currently on sale is easily ignitable by a small source, such as the flame of a cigarette lighter or a match. Quite a lot of it can be induced to smoulder by a lighted cigarette and then to catch fire. Once flaming ignition occurs, the ensuing combustion of the furniture can present quite considerable hazards, and this is especially so if it contains polyurethane foam. At present about 90 per cent. of upholstered furniture does so. Once the furniture is alight, it can burn rapidly and fiercely, producing considerable heat and large quantitites of dense smoke and irritant toxic gases. As a result, occupants can be more quickly overcome than previously, and escape times have been drastically reduced—to as little as one or two minutes in some special cases. But for the speed and efficiency of the fire brigades, now often obliged to use breathing apparatus when dealing with fires in dwellings, the casualty figures would undoubtedly be susbtantially greater than they are.
The number of fires in which upholstered furniture is first ignited has not, in fact, increased in the United Kingdom in recent years, but has remained steady, averaging about 2,200 a year. This is no doubt mainly due to the fact that the widely used combination of synthetic fabrics over polyurethane foam is not prone to ignition by cigarettes. However, deaths in such fires have increased threefold from 30 or so a year in the early 1960s to around 90 a year, and over the same period non-fatal injuries have more than doubled from around 170 a year to an annual total approaching 400. Furthermore, in 1976, the last year for which complete figures are available, while upholstered furniture was the first item ignited in only 4 per cent. of all fires in dwellings in that year, such fires accounted for 13 per cent. of all deaths and 10 per cent. of all casualties.
In a report entitled Fire Risks of New Materials by a committee of the Central Fire Brigades' Advisory Councils, published in November 1978, the view was expressed that changes in fire and toxicity hazards now constitute a serious problem and that it is likely, in mere terms of volume, that upholstered furniture has 1075 the largest single potential for contribution to these hazards. One of the committee's recommendations was that," regulatory authorities should ensure that materials, or formulations of materials, are not used or sold for certain purposes when their fire behaviour makes them unacceptable, according to the appropriate test method, for those purposes". It is against that background that Her Majesty's Government are introducing these safety regulations which represent a first step in dealing with this problem.
The proposed regulations will apply to all upholstered seating furniture designed or suitable for domestic use, subject to the exclusions set out in Regulation 3. The exempted categories include secondhand furniture, furniture intended for use wholly or mainly as a bed, furniture for use out of doors or intended for export, music stools, small furniture with no back or arms—and here we take the examples of stools and pouffes—and upholstered furniture which might be described as "bespoke" furniture, of which the covering material is specified by the customer in the particular circumstances described in the regulations. The regulations will not apply to furniture which is re-upholstered on behalf of the owner because, clearly, no supply of furniture takes place in these circumstances.
Furniture first supplied in the United Kingdom on or after 1st October 1980, and also furniture previously supplied to own-brand dealers, will be required, whenever it is supplied or offered for supply in the course of a business, to comply with the requirements prescribed in Regulation 4 relating to warning labelling if it does not satisfy the tests for resistance to ignition by smouldering cigarettes and by a simulated match flame which are set out in British Standard 5852, Part 1, as modified by Schedule 1 to the regulations. From 31st December 1982, Regulation 5(1) will prohibit manufacturers, importers and own-brand dealers from supplying or from offering to supply furniture which does not satsify the smouldering cigarette test.
Each item of furniture required to bear warnings will be required by Regulation 4 to bear two labels. One is a display label which must be fully visible at all times when the furniture is exposed for supply 1076 by retail sale, and the other label is a permanent and durable label which can be on the base of the furniture or become visible when a detachable cushion is removed; or, indeed, it can be on the cushion. The purpose of the display label, of course, is to make consumers aware, when they are selecting or choosing new furniture, that the pieces bearing the label are ignitable by cigarettes or matches, or possibly by both. If, nevertheless, they buy such furniture, the permanent label which they will see from time to time will act as a reminder of the need to ensure that care is taken with smokers' materials. Regulation 4 specifies the wording required on the labels and also describes the hazard symbols required on one side of the display label. The labels are very neatly illustrated in Schedule 2 to the regulations, and perhaps your Lordships might care to glance at the illustration.
Full and careful consideration has been given to all of the many views expressed by the 150 or more interested bodies consulted by the Department of Trade about the content of the proposed regulations. The initial proposals, as set out in the consultation document which was sent out by that department on 1st June last year, would have required all upholstered furniture to be resistant to ignition by both cigarettes and matches after an initial limited period during which warning labelling would have been a permissible alternative. However, consultations have shown that mandatory compliance with the match standard would have created considerable difficulties throughout the furniture industry, as, among other things, time is needed to develop an adequate range of upholstery materials capable of satisfying this standard. Furthermore, there is little doubt that, of the fires attributed to the ignition of upholstered furniture by smokers' materials, most are caused by cigarettes rather than by matches.
The conclusion has therefore been reached that the open flame test, which is the match equivalent test, should not, in these initial regulations, be made mandatory, and that labelling of furniture which does not pass this test should continue, without any time limit, to be an acceptable way of complying with the regulations. It will thus continue to be possible for the time being to use most of the existing upholstery fabrics, parti- 1077 cularly those made from synthetic or man-made fibres, without any changes being made either to the fabrics or the furniture, since the majority of them in their present form pass the cigarette test. There are some who are of the opinion that there should be a similar concession in regard to the cigarette ignition test, but after a great deal of thought about all aspects of the matter it has been decided that this simply cannot be justified. It will be necessary, therefore, in order to meet the requirements relating to resistance to ignition by cigarettes, for furniture covered by cellulosic fabrics such as cotton and viscose rayon to be suitably modified—for example, by having the fabric treated by a durable fire-retardant process where this is effective or by varying its fibre content—but it seems entirely reasonable and desirable for this comparatively small step to be taken in order to achieve a reduction in the considerable potential hazard presented by modern furniture, which, as I have indicated, leads to a number of fatal and, indeed, non-fatal casualties in fires each year.
It is realised that where some modification of upholstered furniture is necessary in the case of furniture which will otherwise fail the cigarette test, this may lead to some increase in price. Various methods of modifying such furniture are available. Some of these, such as the treatment or what is called back-coating of the covering material, can add 4 per cent. to 7 per cent. to the cost of an average-priced suite, but other methods are available which result in virtually no increase in cost. Moreover, only about 20 per cent. of upholstered furniture will need any modification in order to satisfy the cigarette test. Whether or not furniture should be modified where necessary to pass the simulated match flame test, or alternatively bear the prescribed warning labels, will be at the discretion of the manufacturer or importer concerned.
Many who are opposing the proposed regulations have argued strongly in favour of freedom of choice for consumers. The Government, too, believe that consumers should have freedom to choose what they buy, but we cannot accept that this justifies the continued marketing of products which, as in the case of much modern furniture, present a very considerable and relatively easily reduced fire hazard. I 1078 accordingly ask your Lordships to approve the draft Upholstered Furniture (Safety) Regulations which are before the House. I beg to move.
Moved, That the draft Regulations laid before the House on 2nd April be approved.—(Lord Lyell.)

Lord WALLACE of COSLANY
My Lords, first of all, may I thank the noble Lord, Lord Lyell, for his very clear explanation, particularly in the earlier stages of his speech. I welcome the order as far as it goes, but it is not far enough. In my view, the order is too modest by far. The danger from smouldering cigarettes on foam-filled furniture is slight compared with the danger of the deadly gas given off by such furniture in a fire such as took place at Woolworth's, Manchester, some 12 months ago. The causes of fires are varied. Apart from careless use of lighted cigarettes, electrical faults, lighted matches, and sparks from fire grates are some examples. I doubt whether a warning against careless use of lighted cigarettes in itself is sufficient. What is needed, my Lords, is adequate fireproofing of covering material and the banning of the use of polyurethane, and reversion to the use of flock felt. This latter, I admit, would have unfavourable repercussions on furniture prices, and may therefore not be practical. It would certainly be un economic.
Although the order calls for warning labels stressing the danger of lighted cigarettes effective as from October, it will not be illegal for manufacturers to supply furniture which does not pass the smouldering cigarette test until 31st December 1982. I would ask the noble Lord: Would it not be possible for this to be speeded up? Special security measures are needed to ensure that stocks of foam-filled furniture are held in adequately fireproofed areas in warehouses and shops. This is in addition to the order. I have some information that the Home Office unit responsible, a working party, is in fact looking into this; but this, again, is a very urgent matter.
Bearing in mind the fact that foam-filled furniture is now in use in many thousands of homes, would it be possible for advice to be issued on the fireproofing of the covering material of such furniture?
1079 Alternatively, could the manufacturers be persuaded, through a publicity campaign, to make available supplies of fireproof coverings to replace existing covers so that people who have some foam-filled furniture—and I happen to be one of them—will be able to take some steps towards ensuring a greater degree of safety? We are dealing here not only with a modest order on the supply of furniture but with a hidden danger that exists already in our homes. I do not want to overstress the subject, but that is a fact.
Now that the Government have taken some modest action, for which I praise them, perhaps they will take immediate steps to go further into this important matter which is already receiving publicity, and welcome publicity at that. But this publicity, in turn, gives a great deal of anxiety and worry to many people about their comfortable furniture which they thought was very safe but which they now know constitutes a deadly hazard.

§ Lord SAINSBURY
My Lords, I have already given notice that I was going to ask for certain information. I know nothing about furniture except that I sit on chairs and sofas, but I am told that those in the industry do not consider at this stage that the order is in any way adequate. They claim that it is the chemical which is sprayed over the foam which causes the dangerous fumes; that this is the danger and not the flammability of the furniture itself. I wonder whether the noble Lord in his reply would deal with this.

§ Baroness GAITSKELL
My Lords, I hope that I am allowed to intervene for a moment. Many of my friends who are doctors and who know about these things have told me time and again that when people die in a fire, it is not the actual fire which kills them but the deadly, poisonous fumes. This is particularly so with children and with old people; and, after all, there have been many fires in old people's homes. These people have died from these poisonous fumes. I did not know about this at all until I heard that the danger was in this horrible poisonous filling. It seems to me that until we have laws which will prohibit the use of these fillings in our soft furnishings, 1080 there is not much hope of great improvement.

§ LORD LYELL
My Lords, may I begin by thanking the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, for what he had to say about the regulations and for his kind words about my presentation of what I think the House will agree is quite a complicated chemical subject. I note that the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, believes that the measures laid out in the regulations are a trifle modest, but I hope he will not think that the Government are standing still in any way or that the Home Office are standing still at all. I stressed that these regulations represent a first step in dealing with this whole problem of fire in the home—and particularly where it is concerned with soft furnishings.
The point that I should like to make—and I hope it will go some way towards assisting the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, and the noble Baroness, Lady Gaitskell—is that I understand that there are some recommedations in a Home Office report which is taking this problem of fire in three stages. Research has been done to improve what is known as the "fire performance"—but I think we should call it resistance to fire—of upholstered furniture. Both the manufacturers and the research organisations are giving top priority (as represented by the regulations that I have attempted to set out to your Lordships) to reducing combustibility or ignition from cigarettes or matches. That is the first priority; to prevent fire from breaking out. The next priority—which we take very seriously and regard as very important—is to reduce the rate of development of a fire once a fire is started (be it by match, by flame or, more commonly, cigarettes) so that the combustion does not expand. With this priority we are looking to reduce the rate of production of smoke and toxic products. The noble Baroness and the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury, referred to smoke and fumes. I understand that the most dangerous fumes—and the cause of death in these fires in dwellings which are attributable to upholstery—are those containing carbon monoxide. I am given to understand that flock and other forms of filling have nearly as high a combustibility as some of the more modern foams 1081 and that cotton waste and some forms of horsehair have a certain tendency to catch fire if the first stage is passed. But, at the second stage, we note that the danger from fumes and carbon monoxide which can cause death or severe injury is much greater with some of the modern forms of foam. I would stress that latex, which has been in use for 30 or 40 years, has been seen to give off serious carbon monoxide fumes and other fumes like bromine. I will not go into that; your Lordships will appreciate that this can be dealt with by the specialist agencies. I am not a scientist, as your Lordships will appreciate.
The noble Lord, Lord Wallace, asked why the regulations could not be speeded up. I will attempt to answer at this stage by saying that we should like to consult further over what can be done, but we believe that a two-year gap is as much as we can expect from the trade in supplying new furniture. However, I take the noble Lord's point. We will look at what he has said, and if we can do anything further we will write to him. I am afraid that I am not able to go deeper into the chemical toxicity matter raised by the noble Lord, Lord Sainsbury. We shall study his comments and, if I have not given adequate replies, then we shall study the chemical formulae and the illustrations in the regulations and try to put his mind at rest. I hope that that has covered most of the points.

Lord WALLACE of COSLANY
My Lords, the noble Lord did not reply to my suggestion about supplies of fire proof loose coverings—I think that is the technical expression used by the housewives—for furniture already in the possession of people in their homes.

§ Lord LYELL
My Lords, I suggest that this is a matter which the department can consider. I suspect that it might require considerable discussion with the manufacturers and the research organisations. I understand that this is part of a great parcel of subjects being discussed with the organisations. Perhaps I can make a note of the noble Lord's particular query as to loose covers and fireproofing them and reply to him later. I hope that will be suitable.