More hospitals shunning furniture with flame retardants

A few months ago, Kaiser Permanente said it would stop buying furniture with flame retardants because the chemicals are believed to be toxic. Now several other large hospital systems are following suit.

A group of hospital systems—Advocate Health Care, an 11-hospital based in Downers Grove, Ill.; Beaumont Health System, a three-hospital system based in Royal Oak, Mich; New Jersey's 685-bed Hackensack University Medical Center; and University Hospitals, a six-hospital system in Ohio—said this week they will buy upholstered furniture only if the pieces do not contain flame retardant chemicals. The new policies don't generally apply to medical furniture such as exam tables or bed mattresses.

The policy shift is, in part, a response to a new California law that removed a requirement that furniture makers put flame retardants into upholstered furniture. The chemicals had been required as a way to prevent cigarette fires but have since been tied to a range of health conditions including developmental delays in children and cancer.

“The 'Mad Men' days are gone,” said Brad Miller, a spokesman for the Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association, which supports the hospitals' new policies. A policy paper the association updated in April said the risks associated with flame retardants are higher than the chance of hazards associated with fire risk. “The industry felt it was worth being proactive on this issue,” Miller said.

All five of the health systems announcing the step this week are part of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative, which is pushing hospitals to address a range of environmental and sustainability issues such as introducing healthier food programs and reducing waste at healthcare facilities.

“We're committed to finding safer alternatives,” Kathy Gerwig, Kaiser's vice president of employee safety, health and wellness, told Modern Healthcare in June. “That won't happen without marketplace pressure.”

Follow Jaimy Lee on Twitter: @MHjlee