Desks, wardrobes and chairs made of several materials: how are they approved?

In short. The rule sits in Italian circular no. 7 of 18 June 2004 and in the resolution annexed to it: classification is carried out on every component of the item, each at its minimum thickness, in the wall position; and where the components behave differently in fire, the whole item is given the worst class. Nothing is added up, nothing averaged. The item is approved as a single product or as a series, and extended to a second model only where the minimum thicknesses are identical.

The question came from the makers

The circular opens by saying why it exists: firms in the furniture trade had reported to the Ministry the difficulties they met in certifying and then type-approving products such as chairs, desks, wardrobes, school benches and furniture in general made of more than one homogeneous material. An obstacle on the factory floor: the decrees spoke of materials, and a wardrobe is not a material.

What has to be homogeneous

Before the procedures the circular sets two limitations, and they are the filter for belonging on this route at all. The second is the one that counts: homogeneity is not only a property of the material, it is also a property of how the material is used.

• each single material making up the product must be homogeneous;
• homogeneity is to be understood as referring both to the physico-chemical characteristics of the matter of each single material used, and to uniformity of use and of any installation.

Why the whole item takes the worst class

The part that decides everything is not in the body of the circular but in the resolution of 1 June 2004 annexed to it. It states that for rigid seats and for the other materials under point D3, including those not fixed to structural elements and made up of multiple combustible materials, classification must be carried out on all the components, at their respective minimum thicknesses, in the wall position. And it closes like this: where those components show different behaviour in fire, the worst class is to be attributed to the whole item.

One then sees why a folder of certificates for the individual parts is not the certificate of the piece of furniture: it is the reason a certified fabric does not make a certified upholstered item, taken up in the guide on class 1 IM and, on test methods, in the guide on class 1 IM and CRIB 5. The weakest component does not lower an average: it governs the class. A last line settles a workshop problem: where dimensions or shape do not allow the specimens to be taken, they come from flat sheets of equivalent nature — the curved arm, the moulded back.

And the arms and the writing tablet fixed to the chair?

This is the question a designer put in a public discussion among professionals, and in the thread it went unanswered: on lecture-room and conference chairs, not upholstered, do the arms and writing tablets fixed to the chair themselves have to be classified? He adds that from several manufacturers he finds the certificate of the chair but not of the accessories, supplied separately, and that some maintain they fall outside the rules without saying where that is written.

The circular does not name accessories, but it says two things that bear on them: classification is carried out on every component of the item, and these products are approved with the end use «FURNITURE», specifying the intended use — FURNITURE (CHAIR), FURNITURE (WARDROBE) — and, where contemplated, the relevant installation. The approval therefore concerns an item with a name and a use, not a category.

Put together, they change the question to ask a supplier: not «does the chair have a certificate?» but which components were in the sampling, at what minimum thicknesses, and whether the designation on the approval is that of the model as supplied, accessories included. If the arm is a separate code that was not in the sampling, the document describes an item other than the one arriving on site.

One product, or a series

For a single product an application goes in on legal paper following the annexed form, with the reaction-to-fire certificate in the original or a certified stamped copy; what comes out is a type approval, not to be confused with the laboratory's test report — a distinction with a guide of its own. A series may also be approved in one go, under the procedures laid down for series of upholstered furniture by the note of 30 December 1993, the one in the guide on the bespoke sofa. There are four requirements:

• the series, identified by its own commercial name, must consist exclusively of models of the same type of furniture (the circular gives rigid chairs and the school bench as examples);
• all the models must be made with identical components and give rise to the same test sampling;
• the declaration follows the annexed form, on the maker's letterhead and under civil and criminal liability, listing the items that together with the symbol model make up the series;
• the application follows the same form as for a single product, carrying the name of the series rather than of the symbol model.

The declaration contains a sentence worth re-reading before signing it: the items listed are made with the same materials, give rise to the same test sampling, and differ in shape alone. A series is not a catalogue. Surface finishes are admitted, but within a series they must be identical across all models and identical to that of the sample tested: changing the lacquer or the melamine facing is not a variant of colour, and it is one of the things that come to light in the mock-up room.

Extension to a second model

An extension is also admitted, which the circular justifies by extending to items of several materials a criterion provided in 1987 for homogeneous materials of variable thickness. A maker holding the approval of one product may request it for another model made with the same homogeneous materials and with a geometry such that it shares with the approved product, within the variability of thicknesses, identical minimum thicknesses, declared for the material, layering and dimension of each component.

A note at the end costs dearly when discovered late: the extension is issued only if the reference approval has not expired — how that date is read is in the guide on reading an approval; where instead the setting of use changes and the product does not, the subject is the guide on a different end use.

Which furniture needs a class: the part still argued over

The prior question remains open: which furnishings must carry a class under the Italian fire-safety code. In 2020 a company asked the Ministry to confirm that the entry «furniture fixed and not fixed to structural elements (chairs and non-upholstered seats)» in table S.1-5 also covered bookcases, cupboards, desks, tables and reception counters. The reply of 2 September 2020 does not confirm that reading: it observes that the table lists point by point the materials requiring reaction-to-fire properties, expressed in terms of the Italian class alone because, these not being construction products, the European classification is not applicable, and refers the matter to the local fire service offices. No confirmation, then, and no prohibition: many healthcare and education clients ask for the class as a matter of practice. On materials there is the guide on euroclass and Italian class, on which rules apply the guide on the 1994 decree and the code.

Six lines to ask a supplier for

• the designation on the approval, set against the order code;
• if it is a series, the declaration listing the models;
• which components were in the sampling, and at what minimum thicknesses;
• the finish declared, and whether it is the finish of the piece supplied;
• whether the document is a test report or a type approval, and for which end use;
• if it is an extension, the reference approval and its validity at the date of the order.

What has to arrive together with the pieces, and in what form, is in the guide on documents.

How we work

Brianform works timber, marble, steel and upholstery in house, and furniture made of several materials is decided before the drawing: sampling and minimum thicknesses are design choices, and on a piece already built only the long routes remain. On a hotel contract the value that weighs most is time. The route of a contract is in the Contract section, what we make is in the collections, and the contacts reach the people who follow the filing.

Frequently asked questions

If every component is class 1, is the item class 1?

Only if they all are, each at the minimum thickness at which it is used: where the components behave differently in fire, the worst class goes to the whole item.

Can one series contain a chair and a desk?

No. It must consist exclusively of models of the same type of furniture, with identical components and the same test sampling, differing in shape alone.

Can I change the surface finish of a model already approved?

It is not a neutral variant: the finish must be identical to that of the sample tested and, within a series, identical across all models. It is checked before the order.

Do arms and the writing tablet fixed to a chair have to be classified?

The circular does not name them, but classification is carried out on every component of the item and the approval concerns an item with a name and a use: the question to ask is which components were in the sampling.

Talk to us The contract division

This page reports circular no. 7 of 18 June 2004 of the Italian Ministry of the Interior — Department of the Fire and Rescue Service, Central Directorate for Prevention and Technical Safety, ref. DCPST/A5/1968/OM/9003, «Ministerial decrees of 26/06/1984 and 03/09/2001 — Type approval of furniture, fixed to structural elements and otherwise, made of several homogeneous materials», together with the resolution of 1 June 2004 annexed to it: both read in the text of the document, annexes 1, 2 and 3 included. In the body of the circular the resolution is given as no. 38, while the annex is headed «Resolution no. 8»: the discrepancy is in the document itself and the resolution is cited here by date. The note of 2 September 2020, ref. 11297, «Reaction to fire of materials and furnishings and lift landing doors», is cited for its text as reproduced in the collection «Notes and clarifications on the decree of 3 August 2015» of the Italian national fire service. The note of 30 December 1993 on series of upholstered furniture and the circular of 16 April 1987 on materials of variable thickness are cited as referred to by the 2004 circular, not read in the original. The question about arms and writing tablets, and the answer it received, are reported as contributions to a public discussion among professionals read in full: they are the opinions of those who wrote them rather than practice we assert as general. No prices, no response times, no company case studies, and none of our own approvals are cited. Assessing an individual case is for the professional who signs the filing, the laboratory that carries out the tests and the competent fire service office.