Progress to protect babies from exposure to harmful chemicals in certain UK furniture products, but stronger imminent changes needed to reduce the use of flame retardants.
On the 30th April, the UK Government published statutory guidance on the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) regulations 2025.1 This guidance follows the long-awaited January 2025 ‘Update to furniture fire safety review’ policy paper and analysis of the 2023 public consultation responses.2 Strong consultation feedback support alongside evaluation of the ‘Fire Risks of Upholstered Products’ evidence research,3,4 commissioned by the UK Government’s Office for Product Safety and Standards, has led to positive steps to remove certain baby and young children’s products from scope of the regulations. Changes are set to come into force on the 30th October, after almost 15 years of on-going delays and 6 years since the Environmental Audit Committee’s enquiry recommended the removal of baby products from scope of the regulations in 2019.5 The Government’s 2023 research investigated potential chemical flame retardant exposure risks relative to the risk of injury from a fire4 and indeed, alarming new research warned that sleeping children are exposed to harmful and unnecessary flame retardants and other chemicals (e.g. PFAS) found in their mattresses.6,7 Further important recommendations by the Environmental Audit Committee5 have yet to be acted on and far more must be done to change the current status quo and protect the UK’s public and environment from exposure to harmful chemical flame retardants.
Ongoing exposure to chemicals of concern
Babies and young children are particularly vulnerable to exposure to the flame retardants that migrate out of furniture and concentrate in house dust.8 Their crawling and mouthing behaviours make them most at risk of suffering detrimental developmental and behavioural health effects linked to exposure to hidden toxic chemicals lurking in our homes.9 Less toxic baby furniture and mattress products are welcomed but babies and young children will still be exposed to flame retardants present in other ‘risky’ furniture items that fall within scope of the fire safety regulations. The furniture fire safety regulatory updates must go further to meaningfully protect the public and environment from exposure to potentially toxic chemicals. Furthermore, chemical flame retardants classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) will continue to contaminate UK waste furniture items and hinder the UK’s ambitions of achieving a safe and sustainable circular economy for years to come unless the UK’s fire safety regulations and chemical restrictions are tightened up.10,11
What has happened and where are we now?
Since the UK’s outdated 1988 furniture fire safety regulations came into force,12 we’ve had 10 different UK Prime Ministers and historic events such as the opening of the Channel Tunnel, 9/11 and Brexit have occurred while we’ve waited for regulatory updates. Just to emphasize how old our current regulations are, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and Ronald Reagan was the US President when they came into force. Coming back to chemicals, we’ve seen legacy chemical flame retardants such as decabromodiphenyl ether and the short chain chlorinated paraffins classified as POPs and the regrettable substitutes, medium chain chlorinated paraffins, joined them this year. The POPs in waste upholstered domestic seating incineration guidance for England was published in 2022 but if we are to halt an ongoing cycle of chemical management challenges in the future, new fire safety regulations must enforce chemical labelling and meaningful reductions in the use of chemical flame retardants in upholstered furniture.11
Can the UK stop toxic furniture production? The time to act is now
The current UK Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) regulations have resulted in a reliance on chemical flame retardants by many manufacturers, restricting innovation and alternative methods of fire safety. The UK’s overall chemical flame retardant consumption is estimated to be a staggering 820,000 tonnes/year based on UK REACH data,13 representing 25% of the global total. There is a large and growing body of evidence connecting widely used chemicals with detrimental impacts to public health, the environment and the circular economy. 9,14,15 Fidra calls for sustainable fire safety in the UK and asks that the regulations get updated further, in line with expert backed evidence, as soon as practically possible. If the UK Government’s desired fire safety improvements are to be achieved, strong imminent changes must include:
- Measures to meaningfully reduce the use of harmful CFRs in a quantifiable and timely manner
- Clear labelling, ideally using dynamic digital technologies such as digital product passports, to support chemical transparency and traceability throughout furniture supply chains where harmful CFRs are used
- Acknowledgement of growing research evidence around CFRs currently used in furniture, in particular harm to environment and public, hindering safe by design innovation and circular economy ambitions
- Consideration that UK REACH chemical restrictions are currently not fit for purpose and that the UK must keep pace with the EU chemical regulations
- Critical evaluation of risks to the public from increased fire smoke toxicity caused by use of flame retardants15
Fidra believe that flammability standards that strive for public fire safety must protect human and environmental health and avoid using harmful CFRs. Government must also address chemical barriers to the circular economy and the ongoing cycle of moving from one phased-out flame retardant to poorly studied alternatives (so called regrettable substitution). As stated in a recent toxicology research paper16 “The threat of chemical pollution has been listed as one of the top three environmental crises (alongside climate change and biodiversity loss) society will face over the coming decades.“
Next steps
Further Government guidance is expected after the Office for Product Safety and Standards consider further stakeholder feedback on the updated furniture fire safety regulation proposals. The outstanding issues highlighted in the Government policy paper, including chemical labelling, flammability testing requirements and the proposed flame retardant technology hierarchy will be discussed further and a progress update from Government is expected late 2025.1
Government policy makers continue to work closely with the British Standard Institute’s FW/6 ‘Flammability performance and fire tests for furniture’ committee, which Fidra sits on. This committee is responsible for drafting standards that support the new regulations and desired reductions in the use of CFRs in furniture. Now is the time for decisive action and a critical re-evaluation of the use of chemical flame retardants in UK furniture for sustainable fire safety and a safe circular economy.
Stay informed and support Fidra’s calls for proactive regulatory changes. You can visit our website, follow us on social media or sign up to Fidra’s newsletter to stay informed. Consider contacting your local MP to raise concerns around unnecessary chemical flame retardants in furniture and ask for sustainable fire safety regulations.
References
1. Guidance for businesses on the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) (Amendment) Regulations 2025. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations (2025).
2. Update to furniture fire safety review. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/update-to-furniture-fire-safety-review (2025).
3. Whaley, P. et al. Reconciling chemical flame retardant exposure and fire risk in domestic furniture. PLoS One 18, (2023).
4. Office for Product Safety & Standards. Fire Risks of Upholstered Products. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/642e8b80fbe620000c17ddb5/fire-risks-of-uphostered-products-main-report.pdf (2023).
5. House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee. Environmental Audit Committee: Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Life. https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1805/1805.pdf (2019).
6. Vaezafshar, S. et al. Are Sleeping Children Exposed to Plasticizers, Flame Retardants, and UV-Filters from Their Mattresses? Environ Sci Technol (2025) doi:10.1021/acs.est.5c03560.
7. Vaezafshar, S. et al. Young Children’s Exposure to Chemicals of Concern in Their Sleeping Environment: An In-Home Study. Environ Sci Technol Lett (2025) doi:10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00051.
8. Tao, F., Abdallah, M. A. E. & Harrad, S. Emerging and legacy flame retardants in UK indoor air and dust: Evidence for replacement of PBDEs by emerging flame retardants? Environ Sci Technol 50, 13052–13061 (2016).
9. Page, J. et al. A new consensus on reconciling fire safety with environmental & health impacts of chemical flame retardants. Environ Int 173, (2023).
10. Fidra. Managing Chemicals of Concern within a Circular Economy: The Impacts and Solutions for Chemical Flame Retardant Use in UK Mattresses An Evidence Review by Fidra. https://www.fidra.org.uk/download/circular-economy-chemicals/ (2023).
11. Fidra. Plugging the chemical transparency gap for a safer circular economy – Furniture Supply Chains. https://www.fidra.org.uk/download/case-studies-plugging-the-chemical-transparency-gap/ (2025).
12. Fidra. Furniture and Furnishings Fire Safety Regulations Timeline. https://www.fidra.org.uk/sustainable-fire-safety/furniture-and-furnishings-fire-safety-regulations/ (2025).
13. Health and Safety Executive. UK registration, evaluation, authorisation and restriction of chemicals (REACH). https://www.hse.gov.uk/reach/ (2025).
14. Page, J., Whaley, P. & Čavoški, A. Reforming the UK Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988. Environmental Law Review vol. 25 43–50 Preprint at https://doi.org/10.1177/14614529221146622 (2023).
15. Lane, J. A. & Hull, T. R. Variation of flammability and smoke toxicity of upholstered furniture composites with fire retardant treatment. J Mater Sci Technol (2024) doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2024.02.034.
16. Jones, L. B., Arnold, K. E. & Allchin, O. Evidence on the effects of flame retardant substances at ecologically relevant endpoints: a systematic map protocol. Evidence-Based Toxicology 2, (2024).