On 2nd August, the Furniture Industry Research Association was advised by Government that the long-awaited consultation for the proposed revision to the UK flammability regulations for domestic upholstered furniture was publicly available.
The Government consultation is seeking views from the furniture industry on: the scope of the regulations; the essential safety requirements the conformity assessment procedure; the labelling requirements; the technical file requirements; the proposed timescales for the implementation of and transition to the new regulations; and measures to encourage and enable a reduction in the use of chemical flame retardants.
The consultation can be viewed here.
The documents available include: Smarter Regulation: consultation on the new approach to the fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture; Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture: Impact assessment; and Fire safety of domestic upholstered furniture: Draft regulations.
Plans are being made to hold association member-only forums to gain collective feedback and ensure this is passed back directly to Government.
Both Howard James and Levent Caglar from the assocation's service provider, FIRA International, sit on the BSI Committee that is working on developing the test methods to support the revised regulations.
