The new EU Ecodesign Regulation requirements for electronic displays are now published, banning halogenated flame retardants in the enclosure and stand of all electronic displays, monitors and televisions, from 1st March 2021.

Washington State has invited public comment on the five “priority chemical classes” identified in the State’s new law RCW 70.365 “Safer Products for Washington” adopted Spring 2019 (Senate Bill 5135).

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission, the body which can fix federal product safety standards, has been discussing and studying a possible federal open flame fire safety requirement for furniture for 25 years, after granting a petition from the US National Association of Fire Safety Marshalls in 1994.

The State of New Hampshire has adopted a bill (SB193) banning the sale of furniture which contains > 0.1% “flame retardants” in its covering or cushioning.

An estimated 1 700 buildings in the UK (hospitals, schools, high-rise flats …) may be “at risk” because cladding and construction materials pose fire risks.

Whirlpool is being obliged to recall further clothes dryers, because in the machines as sold, fluff can accumulated and then enter into contact with the heating element.

Associated Press reports that nearly 250 survivors and families of victims’ of the Grenfell tower fire have filed legal action in Philadelphia, citing Whirlpool (the manufacturer of the Hotpoint model fridge-freezer which is indicated to have started the fire, and which contained flammable insulation foam, see pinfa Newsletter n°94), cladding manufacturer Arconic and insulation manufacturer Celotex (part of Saint Gobain group). Both the cladding and the insulation product have since been taken off the market.

The US National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has published its annual report on fire losses, showing that 1.3 million fires were reported by fire departments in the USA in 2018, resulting in over 3 600 civilian deaths, 15 200 civilian injuries and US$ 25 billion property loss.

33 passengers and one crew member died in a fire on the 23-metre commercial scuba-diving boat Conception (Truth Aquatics Inc.), which was anchored off Santa Cruz Island, California, 3rd September 2019.

A fire in the 273 room Tokyo Star Hotel, Odessa, Ukraine, 17th August, killed nine people, reportedly by carbon monoxide poisoning.

Prysmian Group, world leader in energy and telecom cable systems, has been included in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index World, recognising environmental, social and governance performance.

Leading European electrical, electronic and fibre optic cables manufacturer, Tratos, is amongst the 2019 UK Queen’s Award Enterprise winners for innovation for its new Tratos JBA cable sheathing elastometric compound.

A number of new market studies predict continuing growth for flame retardant demand, particularly for PIN FRs. DataMintIntelligence predict 6.2% growth for overall FR markets worldwide 2019-2026, with increasing application in construction, E&E and generally in plastics.

The International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS) has published (in Fire Safety Journal) its “Agenda 2030 for a fire safe world”, as a call for dialogue between fire scientists, fire engineers, regulators and funding agencies.

New Zealand researchers are developing a process to extract keratin from waste poultry feathers and produce a PIN flame retardant. Some 40 million tonnes (1) of chicken feathers are generated worldwide, considered as a waste.

A study led by UCLAN UK centering on toxicity of smoke from FR furniture has led to publication by the same journal of an immediate rebuttal.

The European Commission’s (JRC Copernicus) European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) indicates that the number of wildfires occurring in the EU in 2019 (to mid August) was three times higher than the average (for the same months) for the decade 2008-2018.

Arlene Blum, Heather Stapleton and several other scientists from six universities in North America have published a paper comparing toxicity and exposure of organophosphorus flame retardants (OPFRs) to brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Firstly, total levels of OPFRs in water and air are compared to total PBDEs, showing to be generally higher.

Cone calorimeter tests carried out by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology into effectiveness of barrier fabrics in furniture are now published.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has published two Briefings on “Resource Efficiency and Waste”, one of which specifically targets plastics recycling.

The environmental NGO Zero Waste Europe has published a position paper on “chemical recycling” of plastics. The NGO’s position is that chemical recycling does have “a role to play in closing the material loop and moving … up the waste hierarchy”, but that policy priorities should be firstly to reduce and reuse, and secondly to mechanical recycling.

Unlike post-industrial plastics recycling, dealing with known and homogenous materials, post consumer recycling (PCR) poses challenges because the feedstream is variable and contains a mixture of different polymers and additives, with differing processing characteristics (rheology).

Konrad Wilkens Flecknoe-Brown, DBI (Danish Institute of Fire & Security Technology), presented fire tests of polyurethane slabs (1.2m x 0.6m x 50mm), showing that flame spread, time to peak heat release, and peak heat release rate are all very variable and dependent on the point of ignition (edge and corner effects).

Most of the current fire safety solutions were developed in response to and based on fire accidents that occurred in the past, often some time ago.