General. In order to issue a flammability standard under the FFA, the FFA requires the Commission to make certain findings and to include these in the regulation, 15 U.S.C. 1193(j)(2). These findings are discussed in this section.

Voluntary standards. No findings concerning compliance with and adequacy of a voluntary standard are necessary because no relevant voluntary standard addressing the risk of injury that is addressed by this regulation has been adopted and implemented.

Relationship of benefits to costs. The Commission estimates the potential total lifetime benefits of a mattress that complies with this standard to range from $45 to $57 per mattress set (based on a 10 year mattress life and a 3% discount rate). The Commission estimates total resource costs of the standard to range from $8 to $22 per mattress. This yields net benefits of $23 to $50 per mattress set. The Commission estimates that aggregate lifetime benefits associated with all mattresses produced the first year the standard becomes effective range from $1,024 to $1,307 million, and that aggregate resource costs associated with these mattresses range from $175 to $511 million, yielding net benefits of about $514 to $1,132 million. Accordingly, the Commission finds that the benefits from the regulation bear a reasonable relationship to its costs.

Least burdensome requirement. The Commission considered the following alternatives: alternative maximum peak heat release rate and test duration, alternative total heat released in the first 10 minutes of the test, mandatory production testing, a longer effective date, taking no action, relying on a voluntary standard, and requiring labeling alone (without any performance requirements). The alternatives of taking no action, relying on a voluntary standard (if one existed), and requiring labeling alone are unlikely to adequately reduce the risk. Requiring a criterion of 25 MJ total heat release during the first 10 minutes of the test instead of 15 MJ would likely reduce the estimated benefits (deaths and injuries reduced) without having much effect on costs. Both options of increasing the duration of the test from 30 minutes to 60 minutes and decreasing the peak rate of heat release from 200 kW to 150 kW would likely increase costs significantly without substantial increase in benefits. Requiring production testing would also likely increase costs. Therefore, the Commission finds that an open flame standard for mattresses with the testing requirements and criteria that are specified in the Commission rule is the least burdensome requirement that would prevent or adequately reduce the risk of injury for which the regulation is being promulgated.