ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 Testing For Office Chairs

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CIL provides ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 Testing For Office Chairs. CDG offers BIFMA X5.1 testing as part of its Office Furniture Testing services.  ANSI BIFMAX5.1 General Purpose Office Chairs tests was released in February 2017 and replaces the 2011 standard edition. This standard provides a common basis for manufacturers, specifiers, and users to evaluate the safety, durability, and structural adequacy of general purpose office chairs. These office chairs are normally used in office environments and may include chair styles usually described as executive, task secretarial, guest chairs, nesting folding chairs, armchairs with tablet, and stools. BIFMA X 5.1 now has 20 tests and covers office chairs offering different features. Not all tests need to be done on all chairs. There are three chair categories referred in the standard as chair types. These types are as follows, Type I: Tilting chair, Type II: Fixed seat angle, tilting backrest, Type III: Fixed seat angle, fixed backrest. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has approved the new edition of ANSI BIFMA X5.1 General Purpose Office Chairs Tests standard, and copies of the new edition are available from BIFMA immediately. The BIFMA Chair Subcommittee worked diligently to revise this new edition of ANSI BIFMA X5.1 with improvements in test consistency, modifications to test loads, and one new test for footrests. Scope, This standard is intended to provide manufacturers, specifiers, and users with a common basis for evaluating the safety, durability, and structural adequacy of general purpose office chairs. General purpose office chairs are normally used in an office environment and may include, but are not limited to those seating styles typically referred to as, executive, management, task, secretarial, side, guest chairs, nesting folding chairs, tablet armchairs and stools. This standard describes the means of evaluating general purpose office chairs, independent of construction materials, manufacturing processes, mechanical designs or aesthetic designs. This standard does not address lounge seating, flammability, surface material durability, cushioning materials, product emissions, or ergonomic considerations. The standard defines specific tests, the laboratory equipment that may be used, the conditions of tests, and the minimum acceptance levels to be used in evaluating general purpose office chairs. The acceptance levels and test parameters given in this standard are based on the actual field use and test experience of BIFMA members. Where appropriate, the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007 to 2010study, which indicates the weight of the 95th percentile male is 125 kg (275pounds), was used in the development of the tests. This does not mean that users with weights above the percentiles referenced cannot safely or comfortably use a chair developed to a given BIFMA standard. The tests were developed with an estimated product life of ten years based on single shift usage. Product life will be affected by user size or weight, product use, care and maintenance, environment, and other factors, and, as such, product compliance to this standard does not necessarily guarantee a ten-year product life. The tests in this standard are intended to assess the performance of new products only. They are not intended to assess a product that has been in use.

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