The American Home Furnishings Alliance participated in a fire code-writing session today in Baltimore, Md., and successfully argued against a provision that would have mandated sprinklers in all buildings used for the manufacture, storage or retail sale of upholstered furniture or mattresses.
The session was held by the International Code Council, which publishes model code provisions that are adopted in whole or in part by local code authorities.
As reported in last month's Action Alert to AHFA members, the National Association of State Fire Marshals proposed to require automatic sprinklers in all existing furniture retail stores, which would have required expensive retrofits to buildings and potentiall result in the termination of leases by landlords unwilling to embark on such renovations.
The proposal was defeated on a 7-5 vote of the presiding committee. Their decision will be revisited at a meeting of the full ICC membership next summer in Dallas.
In other developments, AHFA was able to fine-tune the requirement for sprinklers in new and significantly renovated retail stores to exempt those occupancies less than 5,000 square feet. This was in response to concerns expressed by small store owners with only a handful of floor samples, as well as general merchandise stores and charity operations for whom furniture is only a small proportion of sales.
As the principal advocate for the home furnishings industry in the areas of law and public policy, AHFA is committed to achieving sensible results, not only before Congress and state legislatures, but also before regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and California Air Resources Board, as well as non-governmental standard-setters like ICC, ASTM and ACGIH (American Conference of Industrial Hygienists).
