The State of California announced in late January that Technical Bulletin (TB) 133, The Flammability Test Procedure for Seating Furniture for Use in Public Occupancies, has been repealed effective January 22, 2019. TB133 was an open flame test for upholstered seating, which generally required the use of flame-retardant chemicals and additional upholstery operations to apply barrier materials.
BIFMA urged repeal of TB133 several years ago and worked with many stakeholders from the scientific community, firefighters, environmentalists, government agencies, and other associations in seeking this change. Given the impact of TB133 on the furniture industry, BIFMA took the lead on the repeal project with presentations, cost studies, surveys, statistical reviews of fire data, and other activities that proved the repeal an appropriate decision for California.
“BIFMA has long been a leader in working for furniture that is both fire safe and free of toxic flame
retardants,” said Arlene Blum PhD of UC Berkeley and the Green Science Policy Institute. “We applaud
their hard work and congratulate them for this win for both healthier furniture and fire safety.”
Contact Dave Panning, BIFMA Director of technical services at dpanning@bifma.org with any questions
or for more details on the TB133 repeal.