Founded in 1978, the Upholstered Furniture Action Council had a mission: to make upholstered furniture resistant to ignition from smoldering cigarettes. According to the UFAC, this is the leading cause of upholstery fires in U.S. households. Since its inception, fires in the home started from smoldering ignition have been reduced substantially. The UFAC reports that the latest figures show a 79.3% decline in the number of upholstered furniture fires started by cigarettes.
To participate in the UFAC Voluntary Action Program, upholstered furniture manufacturers (bean bag chairs are included) must agree to make their furniture to comply with the UFAC construction criteria. To classify bean bag chair materials, a test method is used to define acceptable performance.
The UFAC test method used to classify fabrics establishes the performance level of upholstery fabrics in contact with polyurethane foam, with respect to cigarette ignition. Our bean bag chairs are filled with polystyrene, not polyurethane foam. Polyurethane foam is commonly known as shredded cushion foam and is found in bean bags called sacs or poofs or fufs. Shredded polyurethane cushion foam is often treated heavily with flame retardant chemicals to comply with UFAC standards.
Because we use styrofoam filling, we are not required to be tested to comply with UFAC standards.
Bean bag chair cover and liner fabrics which meet the requirements of this UFAC test method may be labeled as UFAC Class 1.
Ahh bean bag chairs are all UFAC Class 1 compliant.
For more information about the UFAC, visit http://www.ufac.org/. For details about the fabric testing method, visit http://www.ufac.org/method1.htm.