[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 54 (Wednesday, March 20, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17140-17142]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-06372]
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CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION
[CPSC Docket No. CPSC-2008-0005]
16 CFR Part 1634
Upholstered Furniture Fire Safety Technology; Meeting and Request
for Comments
AGENCY: Consumer Product Safety Commission.
ACTION: Announcement of meeting and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC, Commission, or
we) is announcing its intent to hold a meeting on upholstered furniture
fire safety technologies. The meeting will be held at the CPSC's
laboratory in Rockville, MD, on April 25, 2013. We invite interested
parties to participate in or attend the meeting. We also invite
interested parties to submit comments related to the meeting or the
possible change in regulatory approach discussed in this notice.
DATES: The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on April
25, 2013. Individuals interested in serving on panels or presenting
information at the meeting should register by March 25, 2013; all other
individuals who wish to attend the meeting should register by April 18,
2013. Written comments must be received by July 1, 2013.
ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at the CPSC's National Product
Testing and Evaluation Center, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850.
Persons interested in serving on a panel, presenting information, or
attending the meeting should register online at http://www.cpsc.gov/meetingsignup.html and click on the link titled, ``Upholstered
Furniture Fire Safety Technology Meeting.''
You may submit written comments, identified by Docket No. CPSC-
2008-0005, by any of the following methods:
Submit electronic comments in the following way:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
instructions for submitting comments. The Commission does not accept
comments submitted by electronic mail (email), except through
www.regulations.gov.
Submit written submissions in the following way:
Mail/Hand delivery/Courier (for paper, disk, or CD-ROM
submissions), preferably in five copies, to: Office of the Secretary,
Consumer Product Safety Commission, Room 820, 4330 East West Highway,
Bethesda, MD 20814; telephone (301) 504-7923.
Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name
and docket number for this notice. All comments received may be posted
without change, including any personal identifiers, contact
information, or other personal information provided, to http://www.regulations.gov. Do not submit confidential business information,
trade secret information, or other sensitive or protected information
electronically. Such information should be submitted in writing.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rohit Khanna, Office of Hazard
Identification and Reduction, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850,
telephone 301-987-2508, email furnituretechmeeting@cpsc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On March 4, 2008, the Commission published a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPR) proposing a standard for the flammability of
residential upholstered furniture. 73 FR 11702. The NPR originated from
a petition submitted by the National Association of State Fire Marshals
(NASFM) in 1993, and subsequent work by CPSC staff. The
[[Page 17141]]
history of the upholstered furniture rulemaking is summarized in the
preamble to the NPR. 73 FR 11702. Under the NPR, upholstered furniture
could meet the proposed standard by having either: (1) Upholstery cover
material that complies with the prescribed smoldering ignition
resistance test (called ``Type I furniture'') or (2) an interior fire
barrier that complies with specified smoldering and open-flame ignition
resistance tests (called ``Type II furniture''). The proposed rule set
forth performance tests to be conducted with materials installed in
mockups (using standardized test materials) to simulate the
intersection of the seating area of an item of upholstered furniture.
At the time the NPR was published, CPSC staff stated that real scale
validation testing was needed to demonstrate that the bench-scale test
approach in the NPR was adequate to address the fire performance of
full-scale furniture. This point was also raised later in public
comments received in response to the NPR.
Since the Commission published the NPR, CPSC staff has conducted
testing of upholstered furniture, using both full-scale furniture and
bench-scale models, as proposed in the NPR. For this test series, the
bench-scale performance did not demonstrate an adequate prediction of
real furniture flammability performance, especially in the smoldering
ignition tests. The open-flame ignition bench-scale qualification tests
for fire barriers, however, do appear to result in improvements in
full-scale fire performance. At this point, CPSC's testing indicates
significant promise for barriers as a means to address the flammability
risk posed by upholstered furniture.
The Commission staff believes that fire barrier technology likely
has advanced since publication of the NPR. One purpose of the Fire
Safety Technology meeting is to gather additional information about the
current and anticipated progress in fire barrier technologies and their
application to upholstered furniture. Another purpose is to discuss
other technologies and options to reduce the fire hazard posed by
residential furniture.
II. Topics for the Meeting
In general, the meeting will focus on current and anticipated
progress on fire barrier technologies and other options to reduce the
fire hazard posed by residential furniture. We have identified the
topics for the meeting below. In Section IV of this notice, we are
seeking written comments on these topics as well as additional topics
that are beyond the scope of what will be discussed at the meeting. We
have identified the following specific topics we would like panelists
to address at the meeting:
1. Fire Barriers
Types of products available
Materials and technologies used in fire barriers
Capabilities and limitations of fire barriers
Mattress fire barriers
Cost considerations
2. Commercial Furniture Fire Safety Technologies
Fire reduction strategies
Applicability to residential furniture
3. Application of Other Fire Safety Technologies to Residential
Furniture
Fire technologies used in marine and aviation furniture
Fire technologies used in other countries
Cost considerations
We will determine the order of the panel sessions once we confirm
the number of panelists available for each topic area. We may combine,
expand, or eliminate panel sessions, depending upon the level of
interest. The final schedule will be announced on our Web site by April
11, 2013.
III. Details Regarding the Meeting
A. When and where will the meeting be held?
The meeting will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on April 25,
2013, at the CPSC's Laboratory, 5 Research Place, Rockville, MD 20850.
B. How do you register for the meeting?
If you would like to be a panelist for a specific session of the
meeting, you should register by March 25, 2013. (See the ADDRESSES
portion of this document for the Web site link and instructions on
where to register.) We also ask that you submit a brief (less than 200
word) abstract of your topic and area of expertise. If we receive more
requests for a particular session from potential panelists than time
will allow, staff will select panelists based on a variety of
considerations, including: Whether the information to be presented has
been received in previous open comment periods; the individual's
familiarity or expertise with the topic to be discussed; the practical
utility in the information to be presented; the topic's relevance to
the identified theme and topic area. Although an effort will be made to
accommodate all persons who wish to be panelists, we expect to limit
each panel session to no more than approximately five panelists.
Therefore, the final number of panelists may be limited. We recommend
that individuals and organizations with common interests consolidate or
coordinate their panelist requests. To assist in making final panelist
selections, staff may ask potential panelists to submit planned
presentations in addition to the initial abstract. We plan to notify
selected panelists by April 4, 2013.
If you wish to attend and participate in the meeting, but you do
not wish to be a panelist, you should register by April 18, 2013, and
identify your affiliation. Every effort will be made to accommodate
each person's request; however, we may need to limit registration to
meet the occupant capacity of our meeting rooms. If you are unable to
attend the meeting in person, the meeting will be available through a
webcast, but you will not be able to interact with the panels and
presenters. You do not need to register for the webcast.
If you wish to submit written comments, you may do so before or
after the meeting, by any of the methods stated in the ADDRESSES
portion of this notice. These comments should be received by July 1,
2013. Comments should focus on new information that was not submitted
previously that is related to the topic areas listed above.
C. What will be the format of the meeting?
The meeting will open with a plenary session that includes a brief
overview of the Commission's past activities on the furniture
flammability rulemaking. Following that, there will be a series of
panels covering the topics listed above. Each panel session will
consist of stakeholders and members of the public and will be moderated
by CPSC staff. We expect potential panelists to speak for approximately
10 minutes each about their topic area. At the conclusion of the
panel's presentations, there will be a question, answer, and discussion
session among the panelists and the audience, limited to the topics
discussed by the panelists. Each panel session is expected to last
approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes.
D. What happens if few people register for the meeting?
If fewer than 6 panelists or 20 participants register for the
meeting, we may cancel the meeting. If we decide to cancel the meeting
for this or any other reason, we will post a cancellation notice on the
registration Web page for the meeting and send an email to each
registered participant who provides a valid email address when
registering.
IV. Request for Comments
We request comments on the possibility of moving from a regulatory
[[Page 17142]]
approach that primarily addresses fire deaths caused by smoldering
ignition sources using bench scale models to one that relies on the use
of fire barriers to address fires started by multiple types of ignition
sources (including smoking materials) by limiting fire growth similar
to the performance requirements in 16 CFR 1633. Staff has encountered
problems with controlling standard materials (foam, fabric, barriers)
when used in bench scale tests with a smoldering ignition source. Staff
became concerned with the NPR approach when correlation of fire
performance between bench scale tests and full scale chair tests--when
tested for smoldering ignition--was not validated. Chairs tested with
fire barriers consistently performed better than non-barrier chairs in
open flame testing. In assessing the potential new strategy, CPSC staff
is seeking information on the following questions:
1. Can fire barriers used by the mattress industry be used in
upholstered furniture applications?
2. What modifications to mattress fire barriers, if any, are
necessary to make them effective in upholstered furniture?
3. What technologies (Fire retardant (FR) chemicals, specialty
fibers/fabrics without FR chemicals, inherently fire resistant
materials, etc.) do fire barrier manufacturers use to achieve improved
fire performance?
4. Do fire barrier manufacturers use FR chemicals to achieve
improved fire performance? If so, are the FR chemicals covalently
bonded to the barrier? What is the risk of human exposure from the
specific FR chemicals used? What exposure testing and data exists for
the specific FR chemicals used? Is the product that uses an FR chemical
based fire barrier labeled to indicate use of such FR chemicals within
it?
5. What, if any, FR chemicals are used in mattress or other fire
barrier technologies?
6. What are the cost considerations for using fire barriers? How
does furniture manufacturing and assembling change with a fire barrier?
7. Given the variety of ignition sources involved in furniture
fires, which ignition sources resulting in fatalities would fire
barriers be effective in addressing the fatalities?
8. What fire safety technologies from commercial furniture can be
applied to residential furniture?
9. What fire safety technologies from other industries (e.g.,
marine, aviation) can be applied to residential furniture?
10. For fire barrier materials that do not use FR chemical
treatments, what materials are used and what human exposure data exist
for those materials?
Dated: March 15, 2013.
Todd A. Stevenson,
Secretary, Consumer Product Safety Commission.
[FR Doc. 2013-06372 Filed 3-19-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6355-01-P