Furniture and furnishings fire safety regulations: proposed changes (2016)

[Tom Sutton]

The Govt is having another look at the F & F regs and the old regs will be revoked being replaced with a new one.

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/furniture-and-furnishing-fire-safety-regulations-proposed-changes-2016

I do not think it will affect purchasers and retailers too much but it will need careful study by manufacturers and importers. Just hope the FIRA gets its guidance up and running soon.
 

[Guest FameRetardant]

There are several problems with this new consultation. First, it proposes exactly the same new match test as the gov put out in August 2014. What have they been doing for the past two years? The 2014 consultation showed that the current match test doesn't work in most cases, which means consumers are sitting on ignitable sofas that are supposed be fire-safe. Second, the gov has ensured there will be further delays to the new match test by adding other amendments to the new consultation. Trouble is, these are incomplete and inaccurate. In short, this consultation was forced by press interest and a whistle-blower case, but it is still good only for protecting the backs of civil servants who messed it up two years ago. Essentially, they gave in to behind the scenes lobbying from the chemical industry who, of course, would have been the biggest losers with the new match test (greatly reduced use of flame retardants). As for FIRA, let's just say they have very strong links with the chemical industry.

[Tom Sutton]

Another point is that certain items , like mattresses, are subject to the regulations but do not have to be labeled, so how do you identify the manufacturer or importer?

[FRFree]

Apologies for the delay in replying! I have now joined the forum, so presumably will get alerts when a post is responded to.

You are correct in saying that there are no labelling requirements for mattresses under the Furniture Regs. It is up to Trading Standards to identify the supplier and they would need to do this by checking back up the supply chain. Not ideal. But then it's not ideal that mattress covers aren't included in the regs. No one knows why, by the way. BEIS's 2016 consultation should have taken this into account. But their only concern was covering their backs after the fiasco of the 2014 consultation. Hence, the managers on these regs made sure they'd changed jobs before the 2016 consultation hit the streets, so to speak.