OFFICE EQUIPMENT FIRE SAFETY: THE IMPLICATIONS OF ENVIRONMENTALLY PREFERABLE PURCHASING PROGRAMS ON FLAME RETARD ANT USAGE AND FIRE SAFETY

摘要

In the United States, computers and other office equipment cause or contribute to over 1, 300 fires each year, resulting in approximately $70 million in damages annually, in addition to lost business revenue. Flame retardants have been an integral part of these products for many years, most prominently in plastic housings and printed circuit boards. As the amount of electronic office equipment sold in the US continues to increase, for both commercial and residential use, the manufacture and disposal of this equipment has come under scrutiny with regard to health and environmental concerns. New standards have been developed to encourage the use of more environmentally friendly materials in these products. The most prominent examples of these standards are the IEEE 1680 Family of Standards for Environmental Assessment of Electronic Products. The Green Electronics Council manages EPEAT - Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool. Companies may register individual products with EPEAT, which has three performance levels: Bronze, Silver, and Gold. "Environmentally preferable purchasing programs" affect the marketplace as large purchasers, such as the US federal government, demand that suppliers provide EPEAT-registered products. Many of the EPEAT standards explicitly prohibit or restrict materials which are key ingredients in some of the most effective flame retardants for these applications. This situation has created a challenge for researchers to develop new flame retardants to maintain fire safety while also complying with material restrictions. This is exacerbated by some attempts to prohibit new flame retardants before they even reach the market, without studies demonstrating harm to human health. Flame retardant manufacturers are thus discouraged from spending time and money researching alternatives for fear of never recouping those costs with a marketable product. The end result is a potential weakening of fire safety requirements to comply with restrictions on the use of certain substances. This paper will detail the process by which these voluntary standards have been developed and grown into de facto requirements through widespread adoption. It will then discuss the effect this has on the use of existing flame retardants, the search for alternatives and the implications for fire safety.