Flame Retardant Materials Urgently Need Strict Standards and Strong Supervision
- time:
- 2019-05-13
In China, lax supervision, inadequate enforcement of laws and regulations, and market chaos are the core problems to be solved urgently in the field of flame retardant materials.
Late in the night of March 29, a fire broke out on the streetcar parked by the roadside in Wuhan, and five streetcars were burned into empty shells within half an hour. The previous bus arson in Guiyang on February 27 resulted in 6 deaths and 35 injuries. The bus arson in Xiamen on June 7, 2013 resulted in 47 deaths. Apart from arson, the low flame retardant standard of bus interior materials is also an important reason for the loss of personnel and property.
Zhou Zhengmao, secretary-general of China Fire Retardant Society, told China Chemical Daily in an interview recently that the low standard of fire retardant materials exposed in bus fires is just the tip of the iceberg. In China, lax supervision, inadequate enforcement of laws and regulations, and market chaos are the core problems to be solved urgently in the field of flame retardant materials. If these problems are not handled properly, they not only hinder the healthy development of flame retardant materials industry, but also produce a large number of fire hazards.
As an expert in flame retardant materials, Zhou Zhengmao believes that after decades of development, the foundation of China's flame retardant chemical industry has been laid. Domestic flame retardant chemicals can meet the needs of the domestic market in terms of technology, product energy, quantity and variety. There are as many as 34,000 production enterprises of flame retardant materials, more than 100 large-scale enterprises, and some leading enterprises have certain influence in the world.
In the past 10 years, the growth rate of flame retardants in China has remained at 15%-20%. At present, the annual consumption of flame retardants in China is about 570,000 tons. In 2019, the consumption of flame retardants in China will increase to about 840,000 tons. Although the total consumption of flame retardants in China is higher than the world average level, the application of flame retardants in China is still far below the world average level in proportion, and the gap between China and developed countries in Europe and the United States is greater. Zhou Zhengmao provided a set of data to prove this point: Take plastics as an example, in 2012, 10% of the world's plastic materials added flame retardants, the number of developed countries in Europe and the United States is 15%-20%, while China's proportion of flame retardant plastics is less than 2%.
"The reason for this situation, I think, lies in our inadequate understanding of the importance of flame retardant materials ** and lax supervision and enforcement." Zhou Zhengmao said that the lack of awareness is mainly reflected in the fire department's focus on the back end, that is, how to put out the fire after the fire, sensors, alarms, fire fighting facilities are the focus of supervision, but not enough attention is paid to whether the material is flame-retardant, which is the key to prevent fire.
Understanding leads to low flame retardant standards in some application areas. Bus interior materials are a typical case. Reporters learned that the leather, plastics, fabrics and other materials used in bus seats and other interior materials are inflammable products. In 2006, China issued the national standard "Combustion Characteristics of Automobile Interior Materials" (GB8410-2006). There is only one simple requirement for all automobile interior materials to be flame retardant, that is, the horizontal burning speed is not more than 100 under the relevant test conditions. Millimeter/minute, this threshold is very low, some materials can meet the standard requirements even without adding any flame retardant.
The inadequate management, incomplete and lax national standards are the main reasons for the chaos in the flame retardant chemical market. Our country has clear flame retardant requirements and product standards in building, textile, wire and cable and electronic information products. In order to strengthen the fire safety of public places, China began to implement the compulsory ** National Standard ** Requirements and Labels for Flame Retardant Products and Components in Public Places ** (GB20286) in 2007. However, the current reality is that the flame retardant materials are not used in accordance with the requirements of national standards. Most of the flame retardants in our country are actually exported to foreign countries with the products. Fake and inferior products of flame retardant materials can be seen everywhere in the domestic market.
Zhou Zhengmao believes that the key to such a result lies in inadequate supervision. The supervision of flame retardant materials can be divided into three parts: strict laws and regulations; relevant testing agencies should provide testing reports; and strict supervision and inspection by law enforcement departments. And the work of the three links should be undertaken by different departments in order to play the role of mutual supervision and effective implementation of laws and regulations. At present, the three tasks in our country are basically undertaken by a single department, so there will be management loopholes, it is difficult to achieve fair law enforcement and strict law enforcement. Some inspections only take the form, for example, there is no on-site sampling during the inspection, and the inspectors just check the relevant "license".
Lack of law enforcement will lead to market chaos, and the price difference between flame retardant materials and non-flame retardant materials is 30%-50%. As a result, jerry-building, fake and sub-perfect phenomena are common: flame-retardant materials are used when inspected, Non-Flame-Retardant materials are used when not inspected; qualified products are delivered, while products on the market are non-qualified products with flame-retardant labels.
Therefore, Zhou Zhengmao suggested that China should speed up the revision of relevant flame retardant product standards and the establishment of third-party testing institutions, further improve relevant laws and regulations, strengthen supervision, so that flame retardant materials play their due role in flame retardant and fire prevention.
