CPI is concerned about deaths and injuries from fires involving residential furniture and mattresses and supports a combination of approaches to reduce the incidence of fire deaths and injuries associated with residential furniture and mattresses. View CPI's Position Statement on Residential Upholstered Furniture and Mattress Fire Performance.
Polyurethane is a material that can be found in many of the products that we use in our daily lives. Polyurethane products have diverse and widespread applications, including many consumer items, such as furniture, mattresses, bedding, carpet padding and appliances.
As with many common household goods, items containing polyurethane may become involved in a fire. All combustible materials produce toxic smoke when burned. The toxicity of smoke can be relevant as it is one of many factors affecting the ability of people to escape from a fire.
There are misconceptions that smoke from a fire that involves polyurethane products poses a significantly greater health risk than from other synthetic or natural materials because hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is present in the smoke. HCN is produced whenever nitrogen containing materials are burned, including polyurethanes and other common materials such as sheep’s wool. However, in terms of hazard, carbon monoxide (CO) is by far the most abundant toxicant in fires under almost all combustion conditions. (Nelson, 2003)
A recent paper (Cancio, 2005) reports that several autopsy studies indicate carbon monoxide and lethal levels of carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) were found in the majority of non-survivors and CO was therefore the toxic gas of greatest importance in the fire related fatalities.
For more details on this topic and the specifics of this study, download, Polyurethane Products in Fires: Acute Toxicity of Smoke and Fire Gases.