Credit: B. Hayes/NIST
The test setup described in 16 CFR Part 1633 entails applying gas burner heads to the side and top of a mattress for up to 30 minutes.
No matter how soft and cozy, beds that have gone up in flames are a source of some of the deadliest fires in the U.S. As large pieces of furniture loaded with combustible cushioning materials, beds are substantial fuel sources for home fires. Once ignited, mattress fires can grow quickly, creating life-threatening situations in bedrooms or entire houses within minutes.
A 2007 standard for mattress flammability from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), known as 16 CFR Part 1633, sought to curb the danger of bed fires sparked by flames, which caused an estimated 95 deaths annually from 2002-2005. But because of how infrequently consumers replace mattresses, the researchers who helped to develop the standard spent years in the dark about whether the safety requirements were living up to expectations.
Now, enough data has accumulated for researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to estimate that the standard prevented 65 deaths from bed fires annually in 2015 and 2016. That number is expected to rise as more mattresses are replaced with the newer, standard-compliant models.
“What we've got here is a clear case of fire researchers, manufacturers and regulators all working together, getting the science right, getting commercially acceptable versions of the mattresses right and getting the regulation right,” said NIST research scientist Richard Gann. “It all came together, and as a result we have a real success story for the country.”
Long before 2007, other standards were in place to crack d ..
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