A presentation on furniture fire safety from the manufacturer's perspective, addressing myths about fire barriers and various solutions.

1. FURNITURE FIRE SAFETY
A Fire Barrier Manufacturer’s
Perspective
Kathy Morse Dorrity
Ventex, Inc.
April 25, 2013

2.  Combine thermal insulation with
fire blocking performance to
prevent OR delay internal
flashover event
 Delay = increased time for
discovery, escape and
extinguishment = enhanced life
safety
FIRE BARRIER 101

3.  Fire barriers for Mattresses and
Upholstered Furniture
 100’s of different fire barriers
 Inherent solutions
 Halogen-Free solutions
 Eliminate Chemicals of Concern
 Cost effective
VENTEX BARRIERS

4. INHERENT SOLUTIONS
 Use inherently flame retardant
materials for fire barriers
 Do not need “topically applied” FR
 Capable of meeting most rigorous
FR standards worldwide
 100’s of different fire barriers able
to match various FR challenges

5. HALOGEN FREE
 No halogenated flame retardants
 Halogen Free
 Free of Chemicals of Concern
 CPSIA
 RoHS
 WEEE
 Proposition 65
 Content based analysis

6. COST EFFECTIVE
 Sofa Cost Adds
 Barrier 16 yards @ $2 / yard
 Decking 4 yards @ $2 / yard
 20 yards @ $2 = $40 cost
 Sofa Cost Savings
 Replace poly fiber = <$8.00>
 Replace decking = <$1.80>
 Total Savings = <$9.80>
 Real Net Cost less than $31.00

7. COST EFFECTIVE
 Love seats / chairs would be less
 Products available today
 Mattress Industry forecasted
expensive solutions before 1633
 Solutions less than $10 are
commonplace

8. NEED FOR CHANGE
 Save lives
 Children & families
 Firefighters
 Increase time for discovery and
escape
 Allow time for firefighter response
 Reduce litigation risk
 Keep furniture manufacturing
viable in USA

9. MYTH #1
Life safety must be
sacrificed to eliminate
Chemicals of Concern
from furniture.

10. MYTH #2
Topically applied flame
retardants have to be
used to make furniture
meet flammability
requirements.

11. MYTH #3
The cost to comply with
meaningful flammability
requirements is too high.

12. Myth #4
Flammability standards
that do not involve actual
flame will not shield
upholstered furniture
manufacturers from
liability exposure.

13. LEARN MORE
 Ventex: 1-800-800-3994
 www.greenbearmark.com
 hmurphy@ventexfabrics.com