In message <be3336be85968d49be01e66d6e365b1e02091...@sjc1amfpew01.am.sanm.corp>, dated Wed, 27 Jun 2007, "Tarver, Peter" <[email protected]> writes:
>> From: John Woodgate >> Sent: Tuesday, June 26, 2007 1:19 PM >> >> The emphasis on fire was less, too, because >> serious fires were, and possibly are, rarer in Europe than in USA. > >This is an interesting comment. Is there any data to support this? Hardly! It's not the sort of thing that gets documented. It's what I've gleaned over the years, comparing, with other safety people in UK and Europe, BS 415 (the original UK version of IEC 60065) with UL and CSA standards. Some of the people involved in the discussions had first-hand experience of the writing of safety standards on both sides of the Herring Pond. Note, 'serious' fires. European brick-built houses don't burn down as readily as US timber-framed ones. >And fires related to ... ITE? There wasn't any ITE, as we know it today, in the 1950s and 60s! > Household appliances? Household audio/video? Probably both, but my experience is in household audio/video. >As the primary source of ignition? Yes. > I'm curious, in part, because one of the selling points of the fire >marshals for the candle flame test was related to a larger number of >fires in Europe traceable to candle ignition. (They specifically >mentioned teevees, as you did in an other post.) This is a recent phenomenon. For many years, decorative candles were not widely used in most western European countries, except at festive times, and TV cabinets were made of wood or wood products, at least 10 mm thick except for back covers. There is also a lot of politics involved, regarding the use of flame retardants. In N. America, the environmental issues raised by the manufacture and use of polybrominated retardants have not been given the priority that they have in Europe. It's a complex issue (what isn't, these days?) in that less toxic retardants are freely available that would be acceptable to the environmental lobby in Europe, but they cost more, and the equipment manufacturers don't see an economic case for adopting them. So European plastic cabinets for TVs burn more readily than American ones. That 'larger number' is a 'statistic', too. I don't have the figures, but if there is one fire a month in USA and 1 fire every 29 days in Europe .... And the number of TVs in the field must be taken into account as well, and even their age is a factor: in Europe, TV lifetime in the field is 10 to 15 years - what is it in USA? Then again there are 'fires' and 'fires' - see above. Is there just a smoke-damaged room or no building left? -- OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and www.isce.org.uk There are benefits from being irrational - just ask the square root of 2. John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to [email protected] Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas [email protected] Mike Cantwell [email protected] For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: [email protected] David Heald: [email protected] All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc ______________________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by the MessageLabs Email Security System. For more information please visit http://www.messagelabs.com/email ______________________________________________________________________
