The Fire Test

BS 7177 asks one question of every mattress sold in the UK: does it resist a flame? It does not ask what chemicals were used to achieve that resistance — or what migrates through the fabric into human skin during twenty-six thousand hours of contact per decade. In this episode, we debate: is the UK's mattress fire safety standard a proportionate response to fire risk — or a regulatory instrument that solves one hazard by mandating another, and then fails to measure the hazard it created? We unpack 4 concepts you will need before reading the article: The Single-Question Test, The Fire-Chemical Trade-Off, The Consultation That Went Nowhere, and The Baby Exemption Logic. This is the second of three episodes in The Mattress Problem series. Previously: The Mattress mapped the chemistry. Next: The Third reveals the systemic pattern. Topics: mattress fire safety, BS 7177, flame retardant testing, fire safety regulation, chemical trade-off, mattress standards Read the full article: youreanatural.com/consumer-intelligence/the-fire-test