Does your furniture need CMHR foam? Read our guide to learn the different requirements for home and office furniture.
Is your home safe? There could be fire risks hiding inside your furniture.
Don’t panic just yet - we’re here to help. UK regulations, CMHR foam, and Back In Action are all working together to keep you safe.
We’ve written this guide (just for you!) to explain what CMHR foam is and when you should use it. Not enough time? Here’s the short version: you need CMHR foam in all furniture that is bought for domestic/home use.
(If you’re buying for business, then I’m afraid you’re probably going to have to read the whole thing, or book a B2B assessment and we’ll figure it out for you. Better safe than sorry!)
Let’s get right to it! CMHR stands for Combustion Modified High Resilience foam, but that’s an awful lot of long words. All you really need to know is that CMHR describes certain kinds of fire retardant foams. Simple!
Not all furniture uses CMHR foam, but maybe it should! CMHR is not just used for its fire retardancy - it is also comfortable and durable (we’re big fans).
Don’t zone out just yet. Regulations may not be the most interesting thing in the world, but they are here to help. There are actually a whole lot of safety regulations for UK furniture that most people just don’t need to think about. Before your chair even arrives in your home, the design, materials, and construction have often gone through various tests for quality and safety.
Regarding CMHR, the main regulation that consumers need to consider is this: furniture for use in UK homes must follow specific standards regarding ignition and fire safety. This essentially means that you need CMHR foam in all relevant furniture for domestic settings.
These standards are in-place to help prevent fires and save lives, so it's crucial for furniture makers and stores like us to stay compliant. We put a lot of effort into using the right foam for the right chairs! But do keep in mind: not all retailers care as much about safety as we do. If you’re ever chair shopping and it doesn’t clearly say which foam has been used, then you should check.
If you take anything from this guide, remember to always, always check what foam is in your chair. Just ask the retailer!
We know this info is all a bit dry, but this is important - we’ll get through this together! With office chairs, you will often have the option to buy them with non-CMHR foam at a lower price. This is because offices and other workplaces have different regulations to domestic homes. It is common to use non-CMHR chairs for offices.
This can cause confusion for some consumers, because you still have to use CMHR foam for domestic home offices. To be absolutely clear, here’s how this works:
CMHR foam can sometimes make a chair more expensive (which nobody is happy about) so some retailers will list the non-CMHR version as the base price. We try to be as transparent as possible about our own pricing, and strive to make it super clear when a chair uses a non-CMHR foam that would make it unsuitable for home use. We’ve got your back!
Our “in-stock” chairs almost always use CMHR foam for your safety. When you purchase a “made-to-order” chair, you will be given the option to order with or without CMHR foam. If shopping for home use, choose CMHR every time.
The answer to this question is a teensy bit more complicated. In most commercial spaces, a responsible person needs to conduct a fire safety risk assessment and ensure that the contents of the space (including furniture) do not pose a significant fire risk and comply with British standards. AKA, someone should be in charge of thinking about this stuff. So if you’re feeling responsible, then step up!
There may be different standards involved depending on your industry or workplace, especially if you’re in a super niche or interesting industry (not that we’re jealous, furniture is plenty interesting to us.)
Okay, here’s the part you’ve been skim reading for: CMHR foam isn’t usually required for office spaces. If you work in a niche industry and are uncertain, there should be an appointed fire safety officer at your workplace who you can ask about this. Unless you are the fire safety officer. In which case - ask us!
If you are concerned about buying compliant furniture for your workplace or business, we encourage you to contact our B2B specialist Fiona. She can help ensure you find the right furniture for your space - learn more about workplace assessments here.
Of course, if you still have doubts, you can always just go for the CMHR foam. There’s no harm in being extra fire-safe, and the difference in cost is often negligible for businesses.
This blog covers all of the questions we usually get about CMHR foam. However, if you have further questions, you are very welcome to contact us. We will probably only answer questions about CMHR that relate to our furniture (sorry, we’re great at ergonomic chairs, but we’re not scientists!) but feel free to ask whatever you like. You never know!
You can call us on 0207 935 9120 between 9am and 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Or, visit us in store to ask your questions in person!
