What fire certificate does marine upholstery need?

In short. The certificate that matters does not belong to the fabric. The IMO test measures the ignitability of a cover-and-filling combination, and approval is granted to that combination rather than to its components taken separately. Which rule applies then depends on the vessel and its use, not on the furniture. And applied fire-retardant treatments come with a written expiry date.

Why “IMO certified fabric” is not a complete answer

It is the first phrase anyone meets, and it is half true. The test behind the label — Part 8 of the FTP Code, which refers to an IMO resolution of 1989 still in force — does not test a fabric. It tests a specimen made of cover, filling and any other component intended for the final assembly, mounted on a hinged rig that reproduces the junction between seat and back, which is where a seat actually catches fire.

The text of the test is explicit to the point of being inconvenient for anyone selling fabric: the method measures the ignitability of a combination of materials used in upholstered seating, and not of a particular finished item of furniture.

And the administration that issues the approvals turns that into a rule: approval is to be granted to the combination of components — coverings and fillings — rather than to the components themselves. The certificate, in other words, belongs to a pairing.

What happens if the filling changes?

The certificate stops applying. That is the practical consequence of the point above, and it is the most common way of losing a compliance you believed you had.

A cover certified over foam A is not certified over foam B. The written rule is that a new test is required when the basis product or the treatment procedure changes; where only the colour changes, no new test is needed. Everything a yard calls “a small change” sits in between: a different density because the specified one is unavailable, a layer of wadding added to correct a shape, a filling substituted mid-contract to hold a price.

From which follows the only thing you have to do not to be caught out: ask for the certificate with the order, and read it again whenever something changes, because it describes two materials together and not one.

Wheelmark, or is a test report enough?

It depends on the vessel, and this is not a procedural nicety: it is the question every other answer hangs on.

On ships subject to the international conventions, marine equipment placed on the European market carries a conformity mark shaped like a ship's wheel. Upholstered furniture is one of the listed items, alongside surface materials and floor coverings, draperies and suspended textiles, and bedding components. The mark is not a commercial label: it presupposes testing by a notified body and surveillance of production.

On pleasure craft in private use, many national regimes simply do not impose those obligations, which is why the internet will tell you that “boats are exempt”. The sentence becomes false the moment the same boat is coded for charter or commercial use: the regime changes, and the documents required on board change with it, without the sofa having changed by a centimetre.

The right question is therefore not “is this sofa compliant”. It is “for which vessel, under which regime and under which flag”.

What about sprayed fire-retardant treatments?

They are a legitimate route, recognised as equivalent to using inherently flame-retardant materials, and it is right to know they exist. It is equally right to know on what terms.

The treatment is tested under the same Part 8 of the FTP Code, with the addition of a dry-cleaning simulation. Whoever applies it issues a declaration of conformity referring to the materials of that specific vessel, in at least four signed copies: one for the customer, one kept on board, one for the flag administration, one for the service provider. And application is reserved to the approved provider or to trained agents.

The part almost nobody writes is the last one. The date of re-treatment shall not exceed twenty-four months, twelve are recommended, and more often where materials are regularly cleaned on board. Which means compliance obtained by treatment carries an expiry date and a recurring cost, while compliance obtained through an inherently flame-retardant combination does not. They are two different economics, and the sum is worth doing before choosing rather than at the first renewal survey.

What to ask a supplier, and when

Five questions, all of them before the order.

• Does the certificate cover the exact pairing you will build on my piece? It has to name the cover and the filling together. A certificate naming a single material does not describe my seat.
• Is it a test report or an approval with a mark? The first is a laboratory result, the second also involves surveillance of production. Which one you need depends on the vessel.
• Is compliance inherent, or obtained through an applied treatment? If the latter: who re-applies it, how often, and at whose cost.
• Who answers if a foam is substituted in the workshop? It should be written down that a material change triggers a review of the certificate.
• Do the documents arrive with the pieces? A compliant piece that arrives without its paperwork is, at that moment, not compliant.

Why time is the main value here too

On a hotel contract we say it constantly: the value that counts is not the discount, it is the date. Pieces built to standard, certified and delivered on time mean opening on time, and a client who starts invoicing.

On a vessel the same holds with less margin. A delivery misses the launch and the boat does not leave; a certificate misses the survey and it does not matter how impeccable the sofa is. Compliance is a documentary fact as much as a material one, and the two timelines — making and certifying — belong in the same plan rather than one after the other. On counting a full supply backwards from a date, we have written at length in when to order hotel furniture to open on time.

How we work

Brianform was founded in 1982 in Brianza and works wood, marble, iron and upholstery in house, with a showroom in Cantù. It is a structure built for bespoke projects, where the drawing keeps changing and every change touches several trades at once. Our seating is in the sofas and armchairs collections; for hotels, residential and marine work the Contract page explains how we follow a commission.

On upholstery that has a precise consequence for certification: cover and filling are chosen together, and a variation on one is a decision about the other. Which is why variation requests belong with whoever holds the documents, rather than being settled on the workshop floor.

Frequently asked questions

Is an "IMO" fabric bought by the metre enough?

Not on its own. The certificate covers the cover-and-filling pairing tested together: for the fabric alone there is at most a report describing how it behaved over a particular filling, and that pairing is what is covered.

Does hotel certification carry over on board?

No. They are different regimes with different tests. A piece approved for use ashore has to be tested again under the marine method: the two documents do not substitute for each other. On the hotel side we have written in Class 1 IM hotel furniture: what is required.

Is leather flame retardant by nature?

Not in the sense the rule means. Leather behaves well in fire compared with many textiles, but here too what is certified is the pairing with the filling beneath it, and the test is still required. On the differences between leathers we have written in Custom leather sofas: which leather to choose.

If I re-cover the cushions on a boat I already own, does anything change?

It depends on the vessel's regime. On a privately used pleasure craft often nothing is required; on the same craft coded for charter the documents do matter, and they should be asked of whoever re-covers the cushions before they do it, not afterwards.

Talk to us The contract division

The references cited — Part 8 of the 2010 FTP Code and IMO resolution A.652(16) on the upholstered furniture test, Directive 2014/90/EU on marine equipment with items MED/3.18, 3.19, 3.20 and 3.21, and the guidance on approval and durability of applied fire-retardant treatments — are given for information. The requirements applying to an individual vessel depend on its regime, its flag and its classification society, and remain the responsibility of the designer, the yard and the flag administration.