SACRAMENTO,Calif.—For upholstered furniture makers,the end result of a flammability rulemaking process that started this month will likely be a label saying their furniture is compliant.
But getting to that point will be a long journey.
The proposed new rule,Technical Bulletin 117-2012,would require testing to determine whether a smoldering object placed on a piece of furniture-like a lit cigarette-would cause a fire.The testing would be done to the upholstery fabric,or a mockup of the furniture,or the furniture piece itself.
According to a regulatory timeline released by the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation,which is drafting the rule,a target effective date of the regulation is July or August 2013.
Some furniture manufacturers who have seen the draft rule say they're concerned that the testing method it proposes are unproven,and question how effective enforcement of the rule will be.
Ben Nielsen,owner of upholstery maker Cambridge of California,said one problem is that the proposed rule draws elements from the national upholstered furniture flammability standard the Consumer Product Safety Commission is working on.
But the CPSC has had trouble coming up with a test that works reliably,its chairman,Inez Tenenbaum,said in a Senate subcommittee hearing last month.
"Unlike other products,such as mattresses,furniture comes in a multitude of sizes and shapes,making representative and repeatable testing mechanisms a substantial undertaking,"she said.
Another concern is that California's proposed test would use outdated materials.
Bob Luedeka,executive director of the Polyurethane Foam Assn.,said he recently spent$300 for two cartons of non-filtered National Institute of Standards and Technology SRM(Standard Reference Material)1196 cigarettes,one of two cigarettes that can be used as an ignition source in the draft of TB 117-2012.
A problem,Luedeka said,is that the cigarette isn't made commercially anymore-and isn't representative of what is sold at retail.All 50 states currently require the use of the self-extinguishing reduced ignition propensity-or RIP-safe cigarette.
The 1196 cigarette doesn't have the self-extinguishing banding.And industry sources say airflow through filtered and non-filtered cigarettes is very different.
In each of the three test methods,a test specimen must pass its chosen method three times.If a specimen fails once,the process begins again.If a test specimen fails more than once,it fails the test.
Failure is defined differently in each test,but generally happens if the specimen continues to smolder,bursts into flame or if a certain percentage of the fabric burns away.
The PFA's Luedeka said the 1196 cigarette is not only expensive,"it's not representative of what's used in the real world.So we're going to likely present comments to the bureau asking that they consider the use of certain fire safe cigarettes."
Another area of concern is how the draft rule would be enforced.The BHFTI had not responded to inquiries last week on how enforcement actions are currently initiated,when it last issued a TB 117 violation and how penalties are administered and maximum penalties.
The bureau does list enforcement actions for citations issued and active statewide withhold-from-sale orders on its website and TB 117 violations are listed.
In citations issued,the maximum penalty for a TB 117 violation between July 1,2008 and Sept.30,2011-the most recent date in the archive-was$2,000.
The proposed 2012 draft doesn't list proposed penalties for the new rule.Cambridge's Nielsen said that if the fines are only a few thousand dollars,they would not be a deterrent,especially for importers who bring in hundreds of containers each month filled with upholstered goods.
"It's a couple dollars a sofa,"he said.
He also said that overseas factories can easily sidestep collection efforts by changing their name and getting a new identification number from the state.
"The Chinese factory that makes the upholstery in China that gets fined,today he imports under Sunrise Imports,tomorrow he just changes his name to Sunset Imports and he gets a new I.D.number,"Nielsen said.
He also suggested that fabric suppliers should certify that their products as meeting the new regulation,Nielsen said.
"That would be the only way you could do it.Small(upholstery)factories would never be able to run their own tests on fabrics,"Nielsen said."The fabric folks would run the tests and they would certify that the fabric they're selling to us meets the California TB 117-2012."
While Nielsen said that about 85%of fabrics being used would probably pass the smolder test proposed in TB 117-2012,he said a fabric supplier at a recent workshop on the new rule said that compliance testing could cost millions.
And,Nielsen added:"Probably 75%of the fabrics we use in California today come from overseas,from China."
Nielsen also said he's concerned about the potential cost of barrier fabrics-non-flammable materials that might have to be used between the exterior fabric and the cushion foam in order to pass the test.
While they are not needed in the proposed draft,if the powerful chemical lobby or other interests in the state pushed for different testing than a smolder standard,a barrier rule could result,he said.
He believes it would add$200 to$300 to the retail cost of a sofa,which in effect would have to be upholstered twice.
Currently barriers are required in Boston for contract and hospitality furniture installations,according to Roger Turnbow,vice president of upholstery merchandising for Bernhardt,whose hospitality division has sold to the city.He said the barrier changes the comfort noticeably.
Cushions sit stiffer,partly because the barrier materials is air resistant to reduce the likelihood of oxygen fueling a fire through the barrier,Turnbow said.With most residential furniture,air flows out of the cushion when someone sits on it,"where you sink into it and it kind of carries you as you sit."
The Boston seats are"more like sitting on a balloon,"Turnbow said.
Much could change since the California draft rule is still in the early stages,Nielsen said.He said the furniture industry must continue to follow the process closely because"the battle's not over."
