FIRA creates ‘first standard’ for contract beds

The ‘first standard’ for contract beds has been created by testing experts at furniture technology centre, the Furniture Industry Research Association (FIRA), in response to requests from manufacturers. 

A contract bed is any bed made for the non-domestic industry, including hotels.

The new standard includes a higher level of testing than in the standard for domestic beds. It includes safety, durability, static-load, and impact tests which aim to replicate normal use.

The tests also aim to replicate misuse, including sitting on the edge of the bed, someone moving around in their sleep, lifting and moving the bed, a person falling or sitting down heavily and dropping the bed from a height of 300mm.

Liz Morey, customer service coordinator at FIRA International, said: “When carrying out testing on a product you want to replicate normal use and occasional misuse to fully understand how it will perform in real life.

“There are British and Europeans standards that apply to domestic beds, but a contract bed, for example in a hotel, will need to withstand a higher level of use than one in someone’s home.

“We had received requests from manufacturers to test to a higher level of use than the domestic standard, so we have used our knowledge of bed testing to create this new standard which is the first to specifically cover contract beds.”

The FIRA testing laboratory provides a United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for all types of furniture for both the domestic and contract markets.