EU FireStat report concludes fire safety regulation upholstered furniture and mattresses in Sweden offers net cost benefit, but with high uncertainty. This is the report of package #5 of the EU FireStat project (see above), led by Efectis, with this work package carried out by Lund University. This short (4-page) “case study” assessment is based on the UK Government DTI study of 2000* and Andersson et al. 2003 (SP Report 2003:22), revisited using Swedish fire statistics for cost-benefit analysis (including lives and property saved, but not injuries). The assessment assumes a Crib5 specification for the furniture item (which can be achieved by flame retardants, interliner or non-flammable materials) and an additional cost for fire safety of 100 € per item. The assessment shows that a fire safety regulation on upholstered furniture can be cost-effective in Sweden, but that the cost-benefit ratio is close to 1 with high uncertainty. In particular, the 100€ cost per item could be lower if made obligatory for all furniture.
EU FireStat project, Efectis, EU contract refs. SI2.830108, final report of Task 6 “Case studies using cost/benefit assessment methodology” (Lund University), 17/1/2022.
This study was updated in 2009 by “A statistical report to investigate the effectiveness of the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988”, Bermann Greenstreet for UK Government (BIS) Here.