- Author
- Gann, R. G.
- Title
- Toxic Hazard of Building Products and Furnishings.
- Coporate
- National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD
- Book or Conf
- International Fire Safety Conference. Spring Conference. Proceedings. Fire Retardant Chemicals Association (FRCA). March 11-14, 2001, Fire Retardant Chemicals Assoc., Lancaster, PA, San Francisco, CA, 85-91 p., 2001
- Keywords
- toxic hazards | building materials | smoke | toxicity | fire research | fire safety
- Identifiers
- smoke lethality; sublethal effects of smoke; ISO Document 13571; Sublethan Effects of Fire Smoke on Survival and Health (SEFS)
- Abstract
- Since it was recognized nearly 30 years ago that most fire victims succumb to smoke, there has been a broad effort to include consideration of smoke toxicity in fire standards and code provisions. Research has made great advances in this area, progressing from a focus on identifying "supertoxicants" to providing accurate input data for fire safety analyses. Building on efforts from NBS/NIST and FRCA, it is now becoming recognized that reducing the burning rate of products is the most efficient way of curtailing the life safety threat from fire smoke. Efforts in the international standards arena now need to be channeled to embody this knowledge.