American Furniture Standards

发布时间：2007.7.1

摘要

Standards are publications that establish accepted practices, technical requirements and terminologies for diverse fields of human endeavour. Standards serve three main purposes:
 
 - To protect consumers by enhancing product transparency
 - To benefit the safety and health of the public
 - To facilitate domestic and international trade
 
In regards to furniture, most standards concern safety and health issues. Furniture – by its very nature – is not associated with great risks. Nevertheless, certain products have been deemed sufficiently dangerous by regulators to require the imposition of appropriate safety standards. This applies predominantly to (i) baby and children furniture, (ii) mattresses and upholstered furniture in regards to flammability, and (iii) furniture used in “high risk occupancies”, such as detention and correctional facilities, hospitals, mental institutions, school dormitories etc.
 
Standards are developed and written by Standard Setting Institutions which can be governmental or private sector entities. Regulated or Mandatory Standards are either issued by federal, state, or local governments and defined in laws and regulations, or they are issued by private institutions but referenced in laws or regulations. As a rule, regulated standards apply to the entire supply chain, including manufacturers, importers, distributors, retailers and other producers/sellers of the product in question.
 
Voluntary Standards are usually developed by trade associations and other private institutions. Trade associations often require that their members adhere to their standards. Sometimes state and local governments also develop voluntary standards or guidelines. In spite of their non-binding nature, the observance to voluntary standards may offer some legal backing in the case of litigations. 
 
Standards are written either as Performance Standards or as Design or Construction Standards. The first mentioned kind of standards describes the desired performance of a product. They are flexible and provide industry with much scope to innovate. Design or construction standards give clear directions to producers about the construction of the product, thereby enhancing the certainty of the outcome. However, design standards may be intrusive, cumbersome and frequently lagging behind technological change.
 
For a product to meet a certain standard, it may have to pass some prescribed testing procedures or calibration, usually done in a laboratory. The testing may be performed by the manufacturers of the products themselves. However, in many cases it may have to be done by an independent – and in some cases an accredited laboratory. In order to publicly demonstrate that a product meets a standard, it may also have to be certified by a recognized certification agency.  Conformance certification is usually carried out by the standard-setting institutions, or a testing lab. There are over 100 private organizations and over 60 federal programs in the United States performing certification, testing and accreditation services.
 
The National Institute for Standards and Technology - NIST (part of the U.S. Department of Commerce), is the principal American government office in charge of standards. NIST (formerly National Bureau of Standards) does not develop standards on its own. However, it acts as a facilitator and coordinator to the American standard development process and it seeks to harmonize regulatory and voluntary standard requirements. Furthermore, through its National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program, NIST is one of the largest accreditation agencies for testing labs in the United States.
 
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - CPSC is a governmental regulatory agency responsible for protecting the public from hazards associated with approximately 15,000 types of consumer products - so-called “Regulated Products” - that may pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical risk or can injure children. Established by Congress in the Consumer Product Safety Act, CPSC administers (i) the Flammable Fabrics Act; (ii) the Federal Hazardous Substances Act; (iii) the Poison Prevention Packaging Act; and (iv) the Refrigerator Safety Act. The Commission has the power to issue voluntary or mandatory consumer product safety standards.

Every manufacturer of a product that is subject to a consumer product safety standard of the Consumer Product Safety Commission must issue a certificate that shall accompany the product and be furnished to any distributor or retailer of the product. Furthermore, CSPC may require labels in a prescribed form that must be permanently marked on or affixed to certain regulated consumer products. The certificate/label must state the name of the manufacturer and the date and place of manufacture. They must also name the applicable consumer product safety standards that apply to the product and certify that the product conforms to them. The certificates shall be based on a testing program as prescribed by CSPC. Tests may be conducted by the manufacturers themselves, or an independent third-party qualified to perform such tests.
  
Apart from governmental standards per-se, there are a great many “quasi-standards”, such as procurement specifications developed and used by federal, state, and local purchasing authorities. The US General Services Administration (GSA) is in charge of federal procurements of furniture and other workplace essentials, including furniture used in schools and dormitories, hospitals, mental health institutions, prisons, and similar facilities. Several states reference in their procurement specifications the standards issued by the US General Services Administration.

Each American State has its own laws, regulations and standards that are administered by different agencies, interpreted differently and enforced with varying degree of consistency. The time and expense involved in dealing with states on an individual basis has become an irritant for manufacturers of consumer products, above all for bedding and furniture producers. This problem is being addressed by the International Association of Bedding and Furniture Law Officials - IABFLO IABFLO is made up of state officials who are responsible for the enforcement of consumer oriented bedding and furniture laws in their respective states. The association actively promotes uniformity in laws, terminology, test methods, and enforcement procedures within the various state programs, in particular as they refer to the labelling of stuffed articles including mattresses and upholstered furniture.

California is known to set the most stringent standards among all American states. The so called Technical Bulletins (TB) of the California Bureau of Home Furnishings and Thermal Insulation regulate fire safety of mattresses and upholstered furniture. Several other jurisdictions adopted the California TBs and reference them in their own laws. Manufacturers, wholesalers or retailers of residential furniture and bedding who adhere to the California TBs can reasonably assume that they are also within the law elsewhere in the USA. However, this does not necessarily apply to non-residential furniture. Several states and jurisdictions outside California (cities, fire districts) have their own different laws for public occupancy furniture, seating and bedding. 

Building and fire departments of several states and municipalities are also issuing a multitude of codes. Specifically, they may dictate the kind of furniture which is allowed in public and commercial buildings. Examples include standards set by the Boston Fire Department or the New York – New Jersey Port Authority.  In most instances, procurement and specifications agencies and building and fire departments do not develop their own standards. Instead, they issue regulations referencing other established standards.
 
In addition to governmental standards, specifications, and codes, there are literally hundreds of private standard-writing institutions in the United States – usually trade, professional and technical organizations. Most of them are small and confine themselves to a narrow field.

Contrary to the United States, there are much fewer standard-setting institutions in Europe. 

The American National Standards Institute - ANSI is a private institution and serves as an umbrella association and coordinator of voluntary standard activities in the United States. ANSI does not write standards on its own, but it approves standards from its members as American National Standards. It thereby brings a certain degree of uniformity and cohesion into the American standards system.
 
The principal non-governmental standards institutions in the United States, with some relevance to furniture are (in alphabetical order):
 
• American Society for Testing and Materials - ASTM produces the largest number of non-governmental, voluntary standards in the United States.

• BIFMA International for office and institutional furniture

• ISPA for mattresses

• National Fire Protection Association - NFPA produces the National Electrical Code,

• Upholstered Furniture Action Council – UFAC for upholstered furniture

• Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association - KCMA develops and certifies kitchen cabinet standards. It also administers an accreditation program for laboratories that test kitchen cabinets

• Underwriters Laboratories - UL is a major standards writer. It also operates non-profit testing laboratories whose mission is to investigate mainly electrical products and materials with respect to potential hazards. 
 
American exporters of furniture may also have to consider standards issued by several international or foreign national institutions, such as:
 
• International Standard Organization, Geneva, Switzerland (ISO)
• Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB)
• Centre Européen de Normalisation, Brussels, Belgium (CEN)
• British Standard Institute, London, England (BS)

目录及图表

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION            1

2. STRUCTURE AND CONTENT OF THE REPORT       5

3. ALL CONSUMER GOODS – REPORTING REQUIRMENTS    11 

4.  HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE – EXECPT UPHOLSTERY     12

5. UPHOLSTERED HOUSEHOLD FURNITURE      15
5.1. Construction          15
5.2. Flammability          26

6. JUVENILE & BABY FURNITURE        44
6.1.  Baby Cribs & Bunk Beds        44
6.2.  Other Juvenile Furniture         53
 
7.   MATTRESSES & BEDDING PRODUCTS       58
7.1.  Construction, Size and Labeling       58
7.2.   Flammability          64
7.3. Water Mattresses         86
 
8.   OFFICE & INSTITUTIONAL FURNITURE       87
8.1. Case Goods          87
8.2. Seating Products       101
 
9. KITCHEN CABINETS        106
 
10. RAW-MATERIALS & SUPPLIES IN FURNITURE PRODUCTION  108
10.1. Wood         108
10.2. Paints, Coatings, Lacquers, Laminates    119
10.3. Furniture and Cabinet Hardware     125

        APPENDICES         127
  I.    Selected Furniture Related Standards    127
 II.   Important Addresses        128
III. Companies Producing Law-Labels     138
IV.  Abbreviations used in this Report     138