Underwriters Laboratories expert says US fire deaths are increasing with changing design and content of homes.

Numbers of fires and of fire casualties in the USA are approximately stable since around 2010, with some 1.4 million fires, 3 500 civilian fire deaths, 5 200 reported civilian fire injuries and nearly US$22 billion fire damage in 2020.

One third of UK underwriters are willing to cover fire safety risks in building works to replace defective cladding, and nearly all of the remaining two thirds offer only partial coverage

A new 4% yearly tax property developers’ profits > 25 M£ will fund building fire safety remediation for the coming decade.

Transport for London (TfL) has banned electric scooters on buses and the underground because of fire risks for batteries. This follows a fire on a tube train (Parsons Green, 1/11/21), which caused the train to be evacuated and where the scooter continued to burn after removing it onto the platform, and a fire in a scooter in lost property.

1% POSS significantly improved fire performance achieved by a phosphorus – nitrogen intumescent FR in polypropylene. Nano- octavinyl POSS (polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane) was supplied by Zhengzhou Alfa.

Flame retardants can reduce the fire risk of the liquid carbonate-based electrolytes in lithium-ion batteries. Two PIN flame retardants (phenoxycylophosphazene, melamine phosphate) and tris (2-chloropropyl) phosphate were tested in a battery electrolyte consisting of 1M LiPF6 dissolved in 1:1:1 ethylene carbonate – dimethyl carbonate – diethyl carbonate.

Carbon microspheres modified with molybdenum reduced smoke and carbon monoxide emission from TPU polyurethane.

An ATH – APP based PIN FR system reduced heat loss and smoke emission from wood – polyester particleboard. The particleboard was produced by compression molding of sawdust with polyester resin, after treating the sawdust with sodium hydroxide to improve compatibility.

Magnesium and aluminium minerals from coal power plant flue gas scrubbing can be recycled as PIN flame retardants. The 1 400 MW coal power plant, Nantong, Jiangsu, China, operates lime/gypsum flue gas desulphurisation (FGD), with an objective of zero liquid discharge.

APP with bio-based cobalt phytate reduce heat release, smoke production, density and toxicity from polyurethane foam. The recognised workhorse PIN flame retardant, ammonium polyphosphate (APP) was dosed at 33% loading in polyurethane rigid foam during foaming reaction, and at 27% with 6% cobalt phytate (a commercially available metal salt of bio-sourced phytate, a phosphorus-rich molecule found in plant seeds).

Penta-BDE was fed to mother mice at 0.4 mg/kg body weight per day (orders of magnitude higher than general human population exposure). PBDEs were transferred to offspring both in utero and in lactatio...

Recycled ABS was obtained from a plastic producer in China. Levels of individual FRs analysed in the ABS were highest for BTBPE at 1.8 mg/kg, with DecaBDE (BDE 209), several other brominated FRs and T...

Brussels 30 November – Designers, manufacturers and operators of different forms of transportation are constantly trying to strike the right balance to meet energy reduction requirements as well as...

pinfa online worldwide event, on fire safety of green energies, from AMI Fire Resistance in Plastics Düsseldorf, 1st December 2021, 16h – 17h30 CET. Speakers will include the US National Fire Prote...

Innovative fibre-optics and communications solutions, from R&D to product, for, defense, health care, energy … Luna was founded in 1990 and is headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, USA, and has today 420 staff at twelve locations worldwide.

The pinfa-NA - SPE formulators’ training engaged around 90 participants, with strong interest in PIN FR developments. Led by plastics and compounding expert Roger Avakian, the four online sessions (4 x 2 hours), co-organised by pinfa North America and SPE (Society of Plastics Engineers) in June 2021, addressed in depth fire behaviour of materials and fire safety tests, non-halogenated flame retardant chemistry, flame retardant selection for different polymers, (in particular formulation of elastomers, thermosets, textiles, coatings), new developments and sustainability.

pinfa underlined that specific fire safety risks of PV should be considered in EU Ecodesign, GPP and Ecolabel criteria. An EU Commission consultation on the ‘roadmap’ for environmental regulation of photovoltaics closed 28th October 2021.

pinfa, via Cefic, has proposed amendments to include fire safety and toxicity in requirements for batteries sold in Europe, applicable to industrial and > 2 kWh vehicle batteries. The Batteries Regulation is currently under discussion in the European Parliament and Council (see pinfa Newsletter n°121).

Tighter rules considered for five Persistent, Bioaccumulative, Toxic chemicals, including. DecaBDE, HBCD and PIP. This follows policy of the new Biden-Harris Administration and a consultation organised Spring 2021 (pinfa Newsletter n°125).

National “Recovery and Resilience Plan” for EU Covid recovery funding states building renovations must include fire safety, The Plan, validated by the EU, notes that Croatia’s building stock is largely old and energy-inefficient, often not meeting minimum fire safety requirements, and that comprehensive renovation requires increasing fire and seismic safety.

Swedish business organisations have called to abolish the tax, considered ineffective in promoting environmental progress. The statement signed by national trade federations covering electronics, IT & telecoms and technologies, notes that such a national measure is ineffective in driving global environmental policy and distorts competition, whereas action at the EU level is effective (citing examples of REACH, RoHS and the recent ban on PFAS halogenated chemicals).

US CPSC issues recalls for > 1000 rugs, of several types, sold on Amazon, which fail to meet federal fire safety requirements. CPSC (the US Consumer Product Safety Commission) indicates that the ru...

USFA study indicates 11 650 non-firefighter injuries/year (2017-2019), of which ¾ in homes, in some 370 000 recorded fires. This is additional to the c. 3 700 fire deaths per year in the USA (NFPA data, see pinfa Newsletter n°117).