The British Furniture Confederation (BFC) fully supports the UK’s Furniture & Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations which have been shown to save approximately 54 lives every year.
In addition, we recognise the importance of the EU’s REACH Regulations, which ensure that any chemical that is found to cause harm to human health or the environment is effectively controlled, or removed from use.
It is our belief that the combination of these two Regulations ensures that the upholstered furniture on sale in the UK is the safest in the world in regard to fire performance.
The British Furniture Confederation has been campaigning for the Furniture & Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations to be revised and improved for over 10 years and is now actively involved in the review process with the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.
It is essential that any changes to the Regulations are achievable and do not lower the level of fire safety for both consumers and the fire service.
We welcome and support the decision of the Department for Business Innovation and Skills to undertake a full revision of the Regulations and look forward to the results of the review, which are expected in the coming weeks.
A statistical report to investigate the effectiveness of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 – Greenstreet Berman/BIS 2009