Never again (From The Northern Echo)

Never again

8:00am Tuesday 11th August 2009 in

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Echo victory in campaign for new nightwear regulations.

THE family of a boy scarred for life when his pyjamas caught fire welcomed the introduction last night of new European standards on nightwear.

The regulations, the first to be introduced since 1987, will enforce minimum standards on the flash and burn times of pyjamas.

They will close a legal loophole that meant boys’ pyjamas did not have to meet the same requirements as night dresses and dressing gowns.

Officials decided boys’ nightwear should be exempt from the law because they were close-fitting and less likely to catch fire.

Last night, North-East MEP Stephen Hughes said: “A new European standard has now been introduced.

“The new standard includes a section on pyjamas – dealing with flash burn times and fabrics – which goes some way to offering protection to pyjama wearers rather than only nightie wearers.”

The news was welcomed by the family of four-year-old Daniel Mitchard-Harrison, who suffered major burns when his pyjama bottoms caught fire in March 2007.

Thanks to the quick-thinking of his mother, Liza, who ripped the clothes off him and put him in a cold bath – possibly saving his life – Daniel was wearing the burning pyjamas for less than a minute.

Despite this, a fifth of his body was badly burned.

The youngster, from Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, suffered 15 per cent full thickness burns, endured seven weeks in hospital and has undergone blood transfusions, skin grafts and operations around his groin area to increase mobility.

His case inspired The Northern Echo’s Protect Our Children campaign, which sought to change the law on children’s nightwear.

The new requirement says pyjamas should burn at a rate of no more than 520mm (2.5in) in ten seconds.

While Andrew Harrison, Daniel’s grandfather, welcomed the news, he said he hoped there would be another change in the law to bring the standards for pyjamas in line with that of nightdresses.

He said: “I think it is generally good news. I can see nothing bad in it. It is a good move and it is going in the right direction.”

He added: “I think The Northern Echo deserves a pat on the back. I don’t think this could have happened without the paper’s help.”

Ms Mitchard-Harrison, who has just given birth to her third child, Phoebe, also welcomed the news.

“Anything to improve the situation is fantastic,” she said.

MEP Mr Hughes, who has backed the paper’s campaign from the beginning, said: “The Northern Echo and the many supporters of the campaign should be pleased that this has happened.”

He added that while he, too, would like to see tougher standards on children’s pyjamas, they must be sure flameretardant chemicals would not bring their own health problems.

He said: “I’ve been told by commission representatives that, at a recent meeting of the Consumer Product Safety group, member states have been asked to provide their studies, data or limits in national legislation and to provide their views on the extension of restrictions to textiles on these flame-retardant chemicals.

“I believe we need to do more to protect our children and young people from the dangers of fire. But I, too, am concerned that we may be trading one danger for another more insidious danger.”

Campaign that gathered pace

March 2007: Daniel Mitchard-Harrison is taken to hospital by air ambulance after his pyjama bottoms catch fire from a spark on a wood-burning stove at his home in Dalton, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire. A fifth of his body is burnt and Daniel suffers 15 per cent full thickness burns and is still in hospital, where he has a blood transfusion and endures a series of skin grafts.

April 10, 2007: The family joins forces with The Northern Echo to launch the Protect Our Children campaign, calling for a change in the law governing children’s nightwear, which requires nightdresses and most dressing gowns to be flame resistant, but does not apply the law to pyjamas.

April 11, 2007: Daniel takes his first steps as The Northern Echo launches a petition to demand a change in the law.

April 13, 2007: After The Northern Echo tests brands of children’s pyjamas to see how quickly they catch fire, supermarket Asda, where the pyjamas Daniel was wearing when he was burnt were bought, promises to look into a new line of pyjamas with a higher polyester content to make them more flame resistant. Tesco and Woolworths also pledge to look at their children’s pyjamas again.

April 14, 2007: Daniel is allowed home after five weeks in hospital. April 16, 2007: In just five days, the petition has received almost 200 signatures, from as far afield as Estonia, Belgium and Holland, as well as locations throughout the United Kingdom. It also comes to light that making pyjamas flame resistant would cost retailers only £2 a pair.

April 19, 2007: The petition has collected 800 signatures, including five Euro MPs, three MPs and ten councillors in Darlington, as well as people living as far away as the US, Hong Kong and Barbados. The campaign has attracted interest from regional and national television programmes, including GMTV.

April 25, 2007: Campaign gets backing of Paul Calvesbert, whose 12-year-old daughter, Terri, who lost most of her skin, her ears, fingers, the flesh around her nose, all her hair and one foot in a terrible fire which destroyed her family home when she was only 18 months old. A total of 1,500 have signed the petition.

30 April, 2007: Campaign is praised in House of Commons when Phil Willis, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough and chairman of the House of Commons Science and Technology Select Committee tables an Early Day Motion calling on the Government to close the loophole. May 3, 2007: Bolton University’s Professor Richard Horrocks, who spent 45 years researching materials, backs campaign.

May 25, 2007: More than 2,000 people across the world have signed the petition and 36 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion calling on the Government to change the law. Family of Nathaniel Smith, who suffered 60 per cent burns in a fire which destroyed his family home when he was five years old, back campaign.

June 21, 2007: The Northern Echo reporter Olivia Richwald takes petition to European Parliament.

June 26, 2007: Eminent plastic surgeon Bruce Philp lends his support to the campaign.

July 17, 2007: Supermarket Asda refuses to remove flammable pyjamas from its shelves, saying its customers do not want flameretardant pyjamas. Reaction is met with anger from Daniel’s family as well as campaign supporters.

April 21, 2008: Daniel’s family speak of their dismay at a lack of progress in establishing an international law on flame-resistant children’s nightwear a year after the campaign started.

May 14, 2008: Youngsters at Mowden Infant School, in Darlington, pledge to write to EU ministers to call for a ban on the use of flammable materials in boys’ pyjamas.

May 19, 2008: National Market Traders’ Federation, which has more than 35,000 members across the country, backs campaign.