World Candle Day

The primary purpose of candle day is to make people aware of the tragedy due to candle fires and how it is essential to read the labels of the candles before lighting them.

These two organisations held a webinar in 2021 to explain the safety labelling of candles and how important the manufacturer’s instructions regarding lighting up candles are.

The webinar started with introductions by both the presidents of the organisations. They explained how in the early 1990s, the candle fire started increasing rapidly. At that time, scented or fragrance candles picked up the trend among customers in the early 1990s in America. It became a severe problem in the US with fire safety. So the United States consumer product safety commission, a government agency tasked to make home products safe, approached the NCA to create help produce safer candles.

The NCA (American National Candle Association) was approached regarding the safety of candles. ASTM is an independent body that produces safety standards for things like construction materials, safety toys and others, so NCA thought it wise to work with this entity to solve the fire issue. Hence, specific safety standards were incorporated per the need of the hour for fire safety in the USA.

It is imperative to read the labels of candles because the way of lighting each candle differs. As Rob Harrington said, before lighting a candle, you need to know how long it is to burn, when, where, and, more importantly, where not to burn it. The difference between indoor and outdoor candles should be taken into consideration. There are certain accessories that are required while lighting the candle or extinguishing them, which became necessary to have while burning the candles. When the candle fire safety standards were passed in 2000-2001, candle fires at home dramatically decreased, which approved that the passed measures did work. According to Stefan Thomann, the problem with candle is that most people think it is simple and they know how to use them, so they do not read the label; if people read the label, they look for anything but use instructions. In holding a survey, the statistics showed that most people (62% ) search or look for a scent on a candle label, and only 6% of people were interested in reading the user instructions.

Difference between American and European Standards:

ASTM requires safety alert symbols and the three most essential warnings written in English, while the use of symbols for these warnings is optional in America.

On the other hand, in Europe, it was allowed that there should be a general warning sign with 3-4 mandatory safety messages for unscented candles and 5-6 for scented ones—additional optional safety to be used as needed based on the candle type. Moreover, the safety information must be in the official languages of the countries of sale rather than English.

Also, safety symbols were more in use than text because pictures are more appealing to the younger generation, and for older people, it might be challenging to read the text as it is small.

In order to use symbols, these symbols should be easy to understand by an occasional user, which became a huge challenge. The solution that came out of it was to create a simple and straightforward design; a comprehension test with 1400 consumers in three different countries was taken, and they took the feedback to improve some of the symbols and completely redefined some signs. Then all the stakeholders should use the same marks. At last, the manufacturers, retailers and associations should explain what the symbols mean.

After this, there were certain symbols that were thoroughly explained by both Rob Harrington and Stefan Thomann in the webinar, which is very important if you love candles and frequently light them in your homes. These tips and tricks will ensure you are cautious with fire safety and what to do if an accident happens.

So you can see the whole webinar on https://worldcandleday.net/ and realise and share the importance of reading labels with your family and friends. So, this year on March 1, let’s celebrate world candle day and spread awareness to avoid any mishappening or accident that can occur by lighting candles. However, If you are looking for products like scented and unscented candle holders, candle snuffers, and more, visit our website and look at our range of products. We promise to provide the best quality with ease of shopping where you are bombarded with various options. So, keep lighting candles but make sure to consider fire safety.