Fire Safety Regulations
Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988/1989, 1993 and 2010
The Furniture and Furnishings (Fire Safety) Regulations 1988 (as amended in 1989, 1993 and 2010) set levels of fire resistance for domestic upholstered furniture, furnishings and other products containing upholstery. This page is intended to give an overview of the responsibilities of companies involved in the supply of upholstered furniture and is intended to help suppliers of these products understand how the new Regulations may affect them. It is not an authoritative interpretation of the Regulations, which is a matter for the courts. The Regulations like most legislation is difficult to fully understand consequently two guides have been published to assist the lay person to understand the regulations more fully. This page provides an overview but it does not cover all the details. You should refer to the FIRA’s Guide to the UK Regulations for more detailed information. The Regulations are enforced by the Trading Standards Department. If you need advice, clarification or additional information contact them by using their website, telephone or go personally to the local office which will be a department of your local Council. The guide combined with the regulations should answer any question you have. These can be downloaded from the following links:-- The Statutory Instrument 1988 No. 1324, the Statutory Instrument 1989 No. 2358 , the Statutory Instrument 1993 No. 207 and Statutory Instrument 2010 No 2205
- The Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA) Guide to the UK Regulations.
- Filling materials must meet specified ignition requirements
- Upholstery composites must be cigarette resistant
- Covers must be match resistant (with certain exceptions as outlined in Section 8.2 and Appendix A5)
- A permanent label must be fitted to every item of new furniture (with the exception of mattresses and bed-bases)
- A display label must be fitted to every item of new furniture at the point of sale (with the exception of mattresses, bed-bases, pillows, scatter cushions, seat pads, loose covers sold separately from the furniture and stretch covers)
- The first supplier of domestic upholstered furniture in the UK must maintain records for five years to prove compliance. The requirements regarding testing and labelling of items are detailed in Schedules 1-7 of the Regulations. Schedules 1-5 provide detailed information regarding the testing requirements for foam and non-foam fillings, composites, interliners and covers. Schedules 6-7 provide detailed information regarding the display and permanent labelling of the final item.
- Persons who supply furniture, furnishings or re upholstery services including:
- Manufacturers
- Retailers
- Importers
- Persons who supply filling materials and fabrics to the furniture industry or direct to consumers
- Persons who supply re-upholstery and re-covering services
- Persons who supply second-hand furniture in the course of business or trade (e.g. auctioneers, charities).
- Furniture is not supplied which contains foam fillings (block or crumb polyurethane or latex rubber) that do not meet the requirements outlined in Schedule 1 of the Regulations
- Furniture is not supplied which contains non-foam fillings that do not meet the requirements outlined in Schedule 2 of the Regulations.
- Composite fillings consisting of more than one filling material comply either by each individual filling separately complying or by the total composite being tested. In either case, any foam incorporated in the composite must comply with Schedule 1 of the Regulations.
- Furniture is not supplied with upholstery composites that do not pass the cigarette test as outlined in Schedule 4 of the Regulations.
- Furniture is not supplied with permanent, loose or stretch covers which do not pass the match test as outlined in Schedule 5 of the Regulations.
Appropriate to new furniture with a limited range of cover fabrics. The cover fabric is not match resistant, but the furniture has an interliner which passes the specified test. The furniture meets the filling requirements and is cigarette resistant.
Appropriate to new furniture which meets the filling requirements and is both cigarette and match resistant.
Permanent labelling Permanent labelling on furniture is intended to assist enforcement officers and show compliance with the specific ignition requirements for covers and fillings. The prime objective of the permanent label is for enforcement officers to examine a label on a piece of furniture and obtain relevant information which will enable them to find out and confirm that the materials used in the item do comply with the Regulations. They will also be able to complete a cross check of the claims being made on the label with the manufacturers records. Permanent labels need to be carried on all items of furniture with the exception of mattresses divans and bed bases. The labelling specifications for mattresses, divans and bed-bases are covered separately by BS 7177. There are two versions of permanent labels that manufacturers and importers can choose from. These are:
- A label giving full information about the furniture
- A shorter label giving only the minimum information about the furniture.
- Statements from suppliers
- The results of any relevant test that have been carried out on the furniture and its components
- The correlation of test results to specific items of furniture
- The correlation of records to labels, batch numbers or marks attached to the furniture.
- Name and postal code of the address of the first supplier in the UK (i.e. manufacturer or importer)
- Date on which the article was manufactured or imported
- Description of all the filling materials included in the article
- Description of all the covering materials included in the article.