Fire resistance label on an office chair. In the 1960s, modern furniture materials, such as polyurethane foam, were found to be causing fires to spread rapidly. Research and testing in the UK resulted in the Furniture and Furnishings Fire Safety Regulations Act of 1988. This legislation and its amendments require furniture to be labelled to show whether it is fire resistant. Resistance to fires is achieved by the use of flame retardants such as halogenoalkanes.