SI (Service Instruction) 1324 Furniture and Furnishings Guide (Fire) Safety Regulations

EUROLAB laboratory provides testing and compliance services within the scope of SI 1324 standard. Standard regulation SI 1324 specifies fire resistance levels for indoor upholstered furniture, furnishings and other products containing flooring. Prepared in consultation with the Local Government Food and Trade Standards Coordinating Board and the Trade Standards Institute Administration, this guide is intended to help suppliers of these products understand how the new regulations affect them.

The guide outlines the requirements, but does not cover all the details. The regulations themselves should be consulted for a full description of the requirements. The regulations apply to all persons in the procurement to commercial supply chain.

Regulation SI (Service Instruction) 1324 covers the following furniture:

• Furniture for private use in a residence, including for children
• Beds, headboards, mattresses (any size)
• Sofa beds, mattresses and other convertibles
• nursery furniture
• Garden furniture suitable for residential use
• Furniture in new caravans
• Scatter cushions and seat cushions
• Pillows
• Loose and flexible covers for furniture

Regulation SI (Service Instruction) 1324 does not apply to the following furniture:

• sleeping bags
• Bed linen (including duvets)
• Loose covers for mattresses
• pillow cases
• curtains
• Carpets

The liability imposed by the regulations applies to the original furniture supplier if that supplier is acting within the scope of its business. For a furnished residence this could be the landlord or agent.

Where furnishings are provided by a landlord, implementation of the Code will depend on whether the landlord is acting in the course of his business when renting the property. For example, a landlord who is renting their property on a one-time short-term basis (for example, while working from home temporarily) is unlikely to do so during a job and the Regulations will not apply to the landlord. On the other hand, a much longer series of leases or leases in which the landlord sees the main purpose of the property as a source of income rather than its residence would likely be considered a business activity. In this case, the landlord is a supplier for the purposes of the Regulations and the furnishings they provide must match their requirements.

In all parts of upholstered furniture, the cover fabric (whether the cover is finished or not) must be match-resistant and the upholstery must be smoke-resistant. The regulation provides for separate tests for different parts of the cover.

Regulations also do not apply to garden furniture that is not suitable for use in one place. Any removable hood or stroller, stroller, or carrycot that is intended to act as a sunshade or waterproof cover when used outdoors does not need to provide any fire resistance.

Among the services provided by our organization within the framework of fire safety testing services of materials, there are also SI 1324 regulation tests. Do not hesitate to contact our laboratory EUROLAB for your testing and certification requests.