Is your dressing gown a fire risk?

WEARING dressing gowns could be a fire risk because a loophole in safety laws means that they can be made with highly flammable material.

Experts have claimed the gowns can suddenly catch fire with potentially horrific consequences. Safety regulations introduced in 1985 imposed strict regulations on flammability standards for children’s and some adults’ nightwear, but this does not extend to adult bath robes.

It means the garments can be made from flammable fabrics as long as a warning is included in the clothing label stating in red letters ‘Keep away from fire’.

At least five people have been seriously injured or have died from dressing gown-related blazes in the last ten years and hundreds of fires are reported to manufacturers each year.

The current law came in to avoid accidents with children’s clothing setting alight when they were close to open flames – before towelling became fashionable.

But safety fears have emerged following a trend towards scented candles at home, with experts now questioning whether the loophole that exists should be closed.

Robert Chantry-Price, a chief officer at the Trading Standards Institute, told the Daily Telegraph the Government ‘ought to look at’ the rules as they had not been updated for more than three decades.

He said he also had concerns about the use of ‘onesies’, the name for an all-in- one garment often worn by students.

Onesies are subject to the same loophole as dressing gowns as they are often sold as leisure garments rather than as nightwear.

Data released by the Government shows there were 7,807 clothing, upholstery and furnishing related fires in homes between 20142015, which led to 2,137 non-fatal injuries and 115 deaths.

Jamey Firth, fire safety expert at Testing for Textiles, said: ‘I started working with nightwear in 1989 and I’ve seen all sorts of incidents.

‘Really the onus is on the person wearing it not to be near naked flames, but these days everybody’s got their scented candles out and it causes all sorts of problems.

‘They usually try to blame manufacturers but realistically they have done nothing wrong.’

A spokesman for the White Company, which is a popular dressing gown seller, also told the Telegraph: ‘There is no industry requirement to treat adult nightwear with flame retardant.

‘I can assure you that all White Company nightwear complies with current industry standards and legislation for the product type.’