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CRIB 5 tested furniture is essential for any business owner in any high-risk fire zones, no matter if it’s an educational setting, in the hospitality sector or in hospitals. Not having the appropriate seating can invalidate insurance and even lead to fines, where regulations are not met in these high-risk areas.
In this guide, we’ll essentially explore the importance of CRIB tested furniture: we’ll break down why it’s crucial for your business, what makes our furniture compliant and we’ll delve into the different places that need safe seating and furniture. Firstly, let’s start off by outlining the definition of CRIB 5 testing and its processes.
What Is CRIB 5?
CRIB 5 is the basic fire resistance standard for upholstered furniture. In 1988, an act came into place where the standard of furniture needed to be safe and preventative of fires. Many fabrics and foams are treated with flame-resistant layers to prevent the serious risk of a fire.
What Does The Test Involve?
The goal of the test is to ensure that the furniture doesn’t ignite and spread a fire when exposed to a flame, and this assessment is broken down into three separate tests. When all of these tests are passed, the furniture has met the standard safety regulations and is deemed as suitable in high-risk environments.
Test 1: The Cigarette
A smouldering cigarette is placed within a part of the upholstered furniture, and the test checks if it begins to ignite or continues to smoulder. To pass the criteria, it’s essential that the cigarette doesn't spread or combust and that it eventually dies out naturally. It’s usually a sign that the flame-resistant foam materials are working.
Test 2: The Match
At this stage, a lit match is applied to the material of the furniture and the person that is conducting the test waits for around 20 seconds. After removing the match, the assessment observes whether or not the flame has self-extinguished, which is key to the control of fire. They also look for any signs of the fire spreading and igniting further - it’s more thorough than the cigarette test since an actual flame is applied.
Test 3: The Wooden Crib
This test involves a small wooden lattice crib placed in the upholstery of the fabric, simulating an even bigger trigger for the fire, as opposed to the cigarette and match. It’s a 5-tier wooden structure that looks quite similar to the Jenga game. To pass the criteria, the wooden crib must burn without combusting, spreading and having a dangerous afterglow on the furniture.
H2: What Makes Our Furniture Pass the Fire Safety Standards?
All of our footstools and commercial seating has passed the fire safety regulations test and are CRIB 5 flame retardant. Whether they’re for the comfort of your home or for business and commercial settings, you can put your mind at rest knowing that our furniture is safe.
Many of our footstools are made with real leather that’s generally more resistant to fires, but they have still passed the CRIB 5 test. Our fabric footstools have also passed the CRIB 5 test, making them all safe choices for your business or trade show event.
Plus, their anti-microbial fabrics are designed to kill and repel bacteria and viruses. Not only is our furniture resistant to fire, it also helps deter the bugs from coughing and sneezing in busy areas!
What Businesses Must Have CRIB 5 Furniture?
We would argue that all businesses need CRIB 5 furniture to be on the safe side, but it’s mandatory for commercial settings and environments where people continuously visit and spend the night. This can include hotels, B&Bs, hospitals, student accommodation, offices, restaurants, libraries, pubs and cafés - the list goes on!
In these kinds of environments where people come and go, a fire can happen a lot more easily than you may think. With the right quality furniture and fire safety regulations in place, the risk is much smaller.
The Risks Of Not Having CRIB 5 Furniture
Not having compliant fire safety furniture can have a detrimental impact on your business. For the health and safety of everyone in the building, it’s crucial that these regulations and laws are met. If you’re caught without CRIB 5 furniture within your business, it can result in fines, issues with insurance and a damaged reputation to your business.
How To Maintain Fire Safety In Furniture
Furniture that has been damaged over the years and has a lot of visible signs of wear and tear can be less safe in the event of a fire, even if they’ve originally passed their CRIB 5 test.
Any rips along the fabric and the seams can expose their internal structure, making them less safe. With that being said, there's a few simple things you can do to make sure that your furniture is maintained and fire-safe as time goes on. Let’s take a look at what some of these are.
Regular Cleaning & Maintenance
Regular cleaning and maintenance for your cube seating is essential not only for hygiene, but for fire safety. The build up of dust, dirt and hairs can damage the fabrics on the furniture, making them less durable and fire safe.
When cleaning your footstool, it’s essential to ensure that you don’t use harsh chemicals such as bleach or detergents. This can break down the chemicals and foam layers that make the cube seating fire safe - a bit of light soapy water can do the trick!
Inspect Your Seating
Regularly inspecting your seating can go a long way when it comes to ensuring that your furniture is still fire safe. Double checking if there’s any rips, tears, fraying edges and exposed foam is important to make sure that the fire-safe components are still intact. If you can see any of these signs, it’s time for a replacement so you can ensure all fire safety laws are still met.
Avoid Too Many Modifications
If you are modifying your furniture, it's important to realise that you might be taking some of the fire-safety elements away. We recommend that you always use CR-B 5 certified fabrics and fillings, and ensure that the upholstery is done to a professional standard.
Discover Safe & Stylish Seating Today
After reading this guide, we hope you have a better understanding on what CRIB-5 is and what makes it so important for meeting the fire safety standards in the UK.
To find out some more information on how branded seating can have a huge impact on your reception space, or how custom seating plays a vital role in hotels, why not take a look at some of our other guides?
