Make Life Safer Plus (Green) Program Technical Specifications

Make Life Safer Plus FR Verification Project

The UFAC Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) is an independent advisory board that consists of a diverse group of leading experts in a variety of related fields. TAC membership includes university scientists furniture industry technical leaders, furniture retailers, and textile and flexible polyurethane foam segments, including chemical and flame retardant market experts, and other related communities.

Beginning with a list of the most common furniture foam flame retardants established by Dr. Stapleton of Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, TAC set about to reinvent the way the furniture industry has handled this growing problem. With guidance from Dr. Stapleton, the TAC initiated a third-party analytical lab comparison study with multiple independent laboratories conducting tests on foam samples with known types and quantities of flame retardants. Initial analysis of the results has been completed and additional testing on polyurethane foam for the remainder of 2019 is now proceeding utilizing an advanced Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry protocol. This new stage of testing will consist of beta-testing foam taken from actual upholstered furniture, both domestic and imported, to further refine the scientific integrity of the testing and to validate reproducibility and repeatability.

While this potentially revealing study transpires, initial work is also underway on upholstery fabrics, which are also potential sources of unwanted flame retardants. The current list of flame retardant chemicals tested for in polyurethane foam in upholstered furniture is found here.

UFAC Technical Advisory Committee Membership

The TAC is comprised of the following scientific and industry leaders: