Furniture and furnishings - A technical fire safety guidance – ”the parallelism method” -

This guidance document is funded and distributed by RISE, Research Institutes of Sweden AB. Addressing the fire risks posed by furniture and furnishings is crucial. Swedish fire statistics from 1999 to 2015 record 2264 fire-related deaths, with about 70% occurring in homes and 9% in other buildings. The highest fatality rates are associated with fires starting in beds and upholstered furniture, a pattern seen in many European countries and globally. Despite the significant risk from furniture and furnishings, Swedish regulations remain minimal. Unlike interior construction products, there are no established systems for classification, approval, marking, or market control. As a result, furniture and furnishings often have poor fire performance, potentially leading to rapid and intense fire development in both domestic and public environments. The purpose of this guidance document is to provide a procedure for selecting furniture and furnishings with fire safety levels that align with the fire properties of the surrounding interior materials. It focuses on individual furniture items, using fire test data to match their performance with the fire test data of interior linings. For example, a surface material with a specific Euroclass fire rating can be paired with furniture exhibiting similar fire properties. The aim is to create spaces where both interior items and construction materials exhibit comparable fire behaviour. This approach is referred to in this guidance as the "parallelism method." While this guidance is straightforward to use, it is most effective when applied by individuals with some fire safety expertise who can interpret the recommendations within the context of building regulations or fire safety engineering. Additionally, detailed chapters on fire technical properties and test methods are included to support professionals evaluating fire behaviour, conducting fire modelling, reviewing test reports, or involved in product development. The proposed actions for improving fire safety are based on international fire research and proven experience, as referenced in the guidance. However, the user bears full responsibility for applying the guidance, and the authors disclaim liability for any damages, costs, or issues arising from its use.

Trots faran med lös inredning så regleras generellt inte den lösa inredningens brandegenskaper av myndighetskrav. Dessutom saknas system för klassifikation, godkännande, märkning och kontroll såsom för byggprodukter, dvs. byggnadens fastainredning. Den lösa inredningen har därför ofta dåliga brandegenskaper och kan ge upphov till snabba och häftiga brandförlopp. Detta gäller både bostäder och offentlig miljö.

Denna väglednings syfte är därför att erbjuda en teknik att välja lös inredning utifrån dess brandegenskaper för ökad säkerhet. Den är tänkt att vara enkel att använda både för hemmiljö och för offentlig miljö. I första hand riktar vi oss till personer med brandkompetens som kan tillämpa vägledningen och sätta råden i ett sammanhang, vilket kan vara till exempel Boverkets byggregler, lagen om skydd mot olyckor, systematiskt brandskyddsarbete mm.

Loose furnishings, such as upholstered furniture, mattresses and textiles, are very important for the early stages of fires. Such products can be easily ignited, contribute to rapid spread of fire and produce a lot of smoke and heat when they burn. This limits the time and opportunity for evacuation and fire rescue. The regulation of fire properties of interior textiles, armchairs, sofas and mattresses has been discussed nationally and internationally for many years, without resulting in more stringent requirements for such products, at least not on a harmonized level. Fire safety and environmental considerations are important factors that are often set against each other. It is therefore important to promote the development of safe and fireproof furnishings that are environmentally friendly throughout their life cycle, and which satisfy other requirements that are usually imposed on this product group. The main objective of this project has been to contribute to new knowledge about how fire safety associated with loose interior design can be improved through developing products that meet sustainability and circularity requirements. These new products shall have fire performance comparable to flame retarded reference products but will rely on construction techniques and materials containing small amounts or no flame retardants. The new products shall be safe while in use and shall be recyclable at the end of life. Sustainability and environmental impact analyses including life cycle analyses of furnishing materials have been performed, as well as fire tests for screening the fire performance of a selection of material combinations. Combining a requirement for both sustainable yet fire safe furnishing is a complex task to solve. The more complex the material combination, the more difficult to predict both factors in parallel. Slight variations in components can potentially change the overall scoring of their performance. Cotton, wool and polyester has been shown to have equally high sustainability scores, although cotton had relatively high environmental impact. Polyamide was identified as the fabric with the best environmental performer but scoring lower on sustainability. The cushion material has great impact on fire safety because it may contribute with large amounts of heat energy and smoke. Polyurethane is by far the most common cushion material and comes in many variations, some including chemical fire retardants (FR). FR’s have not been included in in the sustainability and environmental impact analyses in this study, instead focus has been on exploring alternative methods of achieving comparable fire performance. In the case of cushion material, latex was identified as performing much higher on both sustainability and environmental impact than polyurethane. Unfortunately, latex was not a part of the fire testing series and was therefore not explored with regard to fire performance. Future studies should explore the interaction of the fire performance properties of different materials identified as high sustainability and environmental impact performers, especially in full scale room fire experiments. Thorough knowledge about how different components (of high sustainability and low environmental impact) contribute to the fire performance and how these are maintained throughout the furniture’s lifetime, would improve the possibility of fire safe furniture to be part of a circular economy.

År 2009 antog Myndigheten för samhällskydd och beredskap (MSB) en nationell strategi för dödsbränder. Denna syftade till att ingen skulle omkomma eller skadas allvarligt till följd av brand i Sverige - en s.k. nollvision. Årligen dör nästan hundra personer av brandrelaterade skador i Sverige och antalet omkomna har under senare år hållit sig relativt konstant även om det har minskat över en längre tid.

Risken för att omkomma i brand utgår ifrån individens förutsättningar och levnadsförhållanden. Dessa förutsättningar påverkas till viss del av trendskiftningar i samhället. Denna rapport syftar till att identifiera och analysera trender som har en påverkan på individens risk för att dö till följd av brand. Rapporten syftar också till att identifiera vilka trender som det inte har forskats tillräckligt på för att kunna dra några slutsatser om dödsbrandsrisken. Slutligen ges en framtidsutsikt för trender där en sådan kan skönjas.

Vad gäller detektion och släckning har mycket forskning tillägnats brandvarnare. Nya smarta system har införts på marknaden de senaste åren. Dessa har potential att förbättra brandsäkerheten, men mer forskning behövs. Detta gäller även andra system (utom brandvarnare); mer forskning behövs för att kunna visa en signifikant positiv effekt.

En hel del forskning existerar vad gäller prediktion av brand i olika typer av byggnadsmaterial. Samtidigt införs nya och ”nygamla” material på bostadsmarknaden och bostäderna blir ”tätare” mot brand pga. t.ex. flerglasfönster och mer isolering. Nya bostäder tenderar också att byggas med öppnare planlösning än för 30 år sedan, även om bostadsytan i snitt per person inte har ändrats de senaste åren. Detta medför en ökad risk för snabb brand- och rökspridning inom brandcellen, men brännbara byggnadsmaterial kan också medföra ökad brandspridning utanför brandcellen om byggnadsregler inte efterföljs.

Det finns en del kunskap om samhällets funktioner och tjänster, såsom sjukvård efter brand, räddningstjänst mm. men effektivitet och trendskiftningar är svåra att mäta.

Olika individer löper olika stor risk att dö i brand beroende på t.ex. ekonomisk situation, ålder och livsstil. Vad gäller livsstil har antalet rökare i varje åldersgrupp stabiliserats något sedan nedgången efter rökförbudet på uteserveringar infördes år 2005. Däremot ökar alkoholkonsumtionen. Både antalet ensamboende och antalet trångbodda ökar, där båda grupperna har en förhöjd dödsbrandsrisk. Fler äldre med vårdbehov förutspås bo kvar i sina hem i framtiden. Äldre utgör en särskilt utsatt grupp vad gäller dödsbrand och därför bör riktade insatser göras vad gäller denna grupp för att uppfylla MSB:s nollvision.

In 2009, the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB) adopted a national strategy for fatal fires; that no one would die or be seriously injured by fire - a vision zero. Despite this vision the number of people who die in fire has not significantly decreased.

The risk of decease is related to the individual's living conditions. These conditions are to some extent influenced by societal trends. This report identifies and analyzes temporal trends that affect the individual's risk of fatality as a result of fire. The report also aims at identifying which trends have not been sufficiently researched. Finally a forecast of societal factors affecting risk is given.

With regard to detection and suppression in dwellings, much research has successfully been devoted to fire detectors. Recently smart systems have been introduced on the market in recent years. These have the potential to improve fire safety, but more research is needed. This also applies to other systems (except fire detectors); more research is needed to show a significant positive effect.

Dwelling characteristics such as building materials and linings are continuously tested in standardized tests, and much research is conducted upon the prediction of fire spread over different material types. At the same time as new materials are being introduced in homes, new homes also tend have more open plan solutions than 30 years ago, and apartments may contain smoke longer due to for example multi-pane windows and more insulation. This leads to an increased risk of rapid fire and smoke spread within the fire compartment, but combustible building materials can also result in increased fire spread outside the fire compartment if building regulations are not followed.

Economic situation, age and lifestyle etc. decides which risk an individual is at. In terms of lifestyle, the number of smokers has not declined since 2005, while alcohol consumption increases. Both the number of single-family homes and the number of crowded homes increase, where both groups have an increased risk of fire fatalities. Fewer elderly people will live in care homes in the future. Older people are a particularly vulnerable group in fires, and therefore targeted efforts should be made for elderly to comply with MSB's vision zero.

It is well known that upholstered furniture represents a fire risk due to the fact that it is composed of relatively large amounts of easily ignited and very combustible materials. The fire properties are usually improved by adding chemical flame retardants to the upholstery materials.

The goal of this investigation is to demonstrate how sufficient fire safety in upholstered furniture may be achieved, without the use of flame retardant chemicals.

A number of cover materials in different combinations with other materials including wadding, barrier materials and foam, have been tested in small scale cone calorimeter tests and in mock-up chair tests. Time to ignition, heat release and smoke production of the different combinations have been examined.

It is shown that there certainly are possibility to improve these properties by means of alternative strategies other than by adding chemical flame retardants.

Active fire protection systems and products: A review of the performance in residential firesEach year there are in excess of 20 000 residential fires in Sweden and the local rescue services are alerted to just over 6 000 of them. In recent years, around 90 people died in fires annually and the vast majority of these died in a fire in the home. Although the number of fatalities and injuries in fires has decreased in recent decades, it is a slow decline.

The objective of the work presented in this report was to investigate whether the use of passive or active fire protection systems or products have the potential to further reduce the number of deadly fires. The investigation was based on a review of national and international experience on the use of fire-safe cigarettes, fire-safe candles, upholstered furniture and mattresses, bedding products, residual current devices, stove top protection systems, home fire alarms, residential sprinkler systems and stand-alone sprinkler systems.