Posts made in October, 2023

The Government has published a consultation on new draft fire regulations for upholstered furniture so we arranged for our in house blogger Cameron Temple to interview and get the viewpoint of Delyth Fetherston-Dilke and Sharon O’Connor.  They were also interviewed on the Gavel and The Gabble podcast it is well worth a listen and available wherever you get your podcasts.   The government want to introduce new regulations that will turn the upholstery industry on its head and we have until October 24 to change this, so we need your help.   Unsurprisingly, big businesses and mass manufacturers will likely breeze past the change in regulations, with the exception of some time-consuming admin, whereas small businesses, who take care over their craft and deliver high quality products, will seriously feel the effects.   To put it as simply as possible, current regulations dictate that a piece of furniture has to pass an open flame test.   This means that the manufacturer has to put a Bunsen burner against it and see how long before it sets fire.   Under the new regulations an upholsterer has to pass the same test, but on each layer of fabric and filling that they use.   For example, let’s say an upholsterer uses one layer of wool, one of cotton, foam, horsehair or any other fabric, then every single layer has to pass the open flame test, which is extremely stringent.   This is where flame retardant chemicals come in.   For an upholsterer to adhere to the governments strict regulations they have to use a lot of flame-retardant chemicals, which are highly toxic.   The chemicals are can cause cancer, infertility and neuro-toxicity in children, which can lead to behavioural problems and reduced IQ.   To make matters worse, a different department of the government has openly acknowledged the toxicity of these chemicals and as such said that all waste furniture, anything at the end of its life when a consumer doesn’t want it anymore, has to be incinerated.   They say that we can’t risk these chemicals going into landfill and then seeping into river systems where they can become harmful to humans and wildlife.   But, from an environmental perspective,...