Industry Guide to Futon Flammability Requirements in Canada
Legislation
Consumer Product Safety (CPS) of Health Canada’s Product Safety Programme (PSP) works closely with partners and stakeholders to protect consumers and children from product-related hazards and to promote the safe use of products. CPS gets its regulatory authority from the Hazardous Products Act (HPA), which covers the advertising, sale, and importation of a variety of hazardous or potentially hazardous products. The onus is on industry to comply with the legislation. Enforcement actions taken by Product Safety Officers on noncompliant products range from negotiation with industry for the voluntary removal of these products from the market to seizure and/or prosecution under the HPA. Any person or company that advertises, sells or imports noncompliant products that result in property damage, injury or death may also face civil penalties.
Mattresses are defined in Item 32 of Part II of Schedule I to the HPA as products intended, promoted or normally used for the purpose of being slept on that contain resilient material enclosed within a ticking, whether or not those products are commonly referred to as mattresses, other than
- mattress pads;
- sleeping bags;
- box springs and other mattress foundations and supports;
- parts of upholstered furniture that may be used for the purpose of being slept on that are not separate mattresses;
- infant product pads and crib mattresses; and
- one-of-a-kind prescription mattresses.
Futon mattresses fall under the jurisdiction of the HPA and must meet the minimum flammability requirements set out in the Hazardous Products (Mattresses) Regulations prior to being advertised, sold, or imported into Canada:
Not more than one futon mattress test specimen can exhibit melting or charring of its surface that extends more than 50 mm in any horizontal direction from the nearest point of the original location of the test cigarette, or exhibit continuing combustion in the futon assembly 10 minutes after the said cigarette has extinguished, when tested in accordance with Method 27.7-1979 of CAN 2-4.2 M77 of the Canadian Government Specifications Board (CGSB), published in July 1979. |
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Futon mattresses advertised, sold or imported into Canada must also meet federal labelling requirements set out in the Textile Labelling Act and the Textile Labelling and Advertising Regulations administered and enforced by Industry Canada, as well as any applicable provincial requirements for labelling.
For more information on legislative requirements for futon mattresses, refer to Appendix C - Canadian Information Resources, on page 25 of this document.
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