FRETWORK Newsletter No. 34

06 Sep FRETWORK Newsletter No. 34

We received this yesterday:

Not very remarkable but lets take a closer look:

The damage to the seat cushion was caused (apparently) by a self igniting smart phone.

The cushion has been returned for a replacement to be made. Another quiet day at the office then?

But if you look closely at the hole formed in the foam you can see that the melt back represents a very strong heat source – probably a crib 5 or more severe? The damage around the hole shows very little evidence of surface burn from the textile cover.

What would have happened if the product had not been carefully made in the UK? Almost certainly the item of upholstery would have been turned into a very large heat source emitting copious amounts of smoke and toxic fumes. Definitely a life threatening event. (Cue music: “Burning down the house…”).

We hope that very shortly we shall have suitable detail and permissions so that we can :

Name the company that produced the textile treatment. They will of course know exactly what went into the formulation.

The name of the Coater who applied the treatment. They will know what was applied and they did the the quality control for fire performance. My guess is the the lady with the lovely fingernails will be involved somewhere. (see bottom of page Home ).

We shall know who made the upholstery and they will know who made the foam so we will know what is in the foam.

This is called Supply Chain Traceability. (see Code of Good Practice ).

So, a good day at the office for British Industry.

Now the health warnings:

Do NOT try this at home – your upholstery may not be so carefully made.

This type of Consumer Protection is not available in all countries – in fact only in the UK and certainly not in the EU27.