Assessment of the fire safety requirements to upholstered furniture and mattresses

The Norwegian authorities responsible for product safety have started a revision of the present regulations to fire behaviour of mattresses and upholstered furniture. This paper presents results from a project aimed at collecting and analysing international and national knowledge and experience on this subject to create a decision basis for the Norwegian authorities. Statistics from fires in prisons and psychiatric institutions have been studied, and the evaluation shows that incendiary fires in these institutions often start in furniture. Data from domestic fatal fires show that fires starting in furniture represent a high fatality risk. These results are supported by findings from an extensive literature study, and leads to the conclusion that fire safe furniture is a highly effective fire countermeasure, both in selected public areas and in private homes.

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