3 ms·

My guess though, is that the fire safety requirements of mattresses are almost entirely aimed at curbing the risk from smoking in bed. If the author of the art

by JR1427 3y ago

My guess though, is that the fire safety requirements of mattresses are almost entirely aimed at curbing the risk from smoking in bed. If the author of the article doesn't smoke in bed, then they are circumventing the risk in a different way. In the UK, the label that shows soft furnishings are fire retardant has a picture of a cigarette and match, which is what leads me to believe this was the primary risk.

helsinkiandrew 3y ago
And candles! > But while smoking materials continue to be the leading source of deadly home fires, incidents involving candles have steadily increased. Candle fires have quadrupled to 16 400 a year over the last decade https://www.flameretardants-online.com/news/archive?showid=17944 https://www.flameretardants-online.com/news/archive?showid=1...
pdpi 3y ago
I’m not an expert in fire safety. I don’t have an opinion on how safe it is to ignore the flame retardant layer, but your argument is at least sane enough to pass the smell test. If the author had said that, I’d have been satisfied. They didn’t even do that, though. They said “I don’t like my options for fire retardant, so here’s how I built a mattress without it”, with zero justification for why they thought it was acceptable, zero assurances that they put any thought into it.
- sprucevoid 3y ago
  > zero assurances It is a personal, minimalistic blog that someone else submitted to HN. The argument that the bed fire risk comes mostly from smoking in bed seems straightforward so maybe they did not feel a need to spell it out. While on the topic of fire hazards "[s]heep farming emits high volumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and also drives carbon-emitting deforestation"[0] both which, I add, contributes to climate change which increases the likelihood and impact of forest fires which put human lives at risk. [0] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24008053/wool-marketing-environment-sustainable-claims-sheep-animal-cruelty-fast-fashion https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24008053/wool-marketing-e...

by JR1427 3y ago

helsinkiandrew 3y ago

And candles! > But while smoking materials continue to be the leading source of deadly home fires, incidents involving candles have steadily increased. Candle fires have quadrupled to 16 400 a year over the last decade https://www.flameretardants-online.com/news/archive?showid=17944 https://www.flameretardants-online.com/news/archive?showid=1...

pdpi 3y ago

I’m not an expert in fire safety. I don’t have an opinion on how safe it is to ignore the flame retardant layer, but your argument is at least sane enough to pass the smell test. If the author had said that, I’d have been satisfied. They didn’t even do that, though. They said “I don’t like my options for fire retardant, so here’s how I built a mattress without it”, with zero justification for why they thought it was acceptable, zero assurances that they put any thought into it.

sprucevoid 3y ago
> zero assurances It is a personal, minimalistic blog that someone else submitted to HN. The argument that the bed fire risk comes mostly from smoking in bed seems straightforward so maybe they did not feel a need to spell it out. While on the topic of fire hazards "[s]heep farming emits high volumes of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and also drives carbon-emitting deforestation"[0] both which, I add, contributes to climate change which increases the likelihood and impact of forest fires which put human lives at risk. [0] https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24008053/wool-marketing-environment-sustainable-claims-sheep-animal-cruelty-fast-fashion https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/24008053/wool-marketing-e...