title: Brominated Flame Retardants
What are brominated flame retardants?

 

Fire regulations in the UK require the use of flame retardants in furniture. It is estimated that this has saved over 1200 lives since they were introduced in 1988.

Flame retardants work in several ways:

  • Decrease the likelihood of ignition.
  • Reduce the spread of fire to give more chance of escape.
  • Increases the time before "flash over" happens. This is when other materials close to the fire burst into flame

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fires without retardants

The animation shows how quickly a fire can spread:

0 minutes - 18oC: candle is dropped onto chair.

2 minutes - 24oC: chair in flames and room fills with choking smoke. Most people are killed by the smoke.

4 minutes - 300oC: intolerable temperatures would cause death if any inhabitants remained in the room.

5 minutes - 800oC: flash over ignites all materials in the room.

 

animation: how quickly a fire can spread

 

Effects of retardants

The most common type of flame retardants used are called Brominated Flame retardants (BFR's). By reducing the chance of ignition and slowing the spread of a fire, they can increase the time a person has to escape a fire.
Health Concerns

As always, there are both costs and benefits to using Brominated Flame Retardants. They reduce fires but also could causes some problems in the environment. Look through the following sections to see the arguments for and against the use of BFR's.