Fire safety of soft furnishings—an overview

Abstract

AbstractThe fire risk posed by soft furnishings such as bedding materials and upholstered furniture and the strategies being developed to reduce the number of fire‐related casualities are reviewed from a Canadian point of view. Statistics from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom indicate that a substantial reduction in the number of fire deaths would be possible if the ability of assemblies of materials to resist ignition by smokers' materials, such as cigarettes and matches, could be improved. The post‐ignition performance of furnishings that results in generation of heat, smoke and toxic gases is also important from a safety point of view. A need exists for both full‐scale and small‐scale fire tests, and for mathematical modelling for present and future control strategies.