Average Weight Increase Causes BIFMA to Revise US Office Chair Standard
With the average American's weight continuing to rise, BIFMA has updated ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 (General-Purpose Office Chairs Tests) to take account of the changes.
- (1888PressRelease) April 01, 2017 - The Business + Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) released a revised version of ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 (General-Purpose Office Chairs Tests) on February 14, 2017. The updated edition, designated ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 - 2017, is designed to help furniture manufacturers deal with the continued rise in the average American's weight.
The previous version of the standard, issued in 2011, was based on a 253 pound 95th percentile male weight. In the following six years, the 95th percentile male weight has increased to 275 pounds and this has led to the need for a new standard, incorporating increased testing loads. For example, the seat load for the swivel test - cyclic - has now been raised to 270 lbs. and for the tilt mechanism - cyclic - is now 240lbs.
The new standard, approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), has also renumbered several section designations, introduced an alternative front stability test method, and added a new 'chair durability' test.
The updated standard, ANSI/BIFMA X5.1 - 2017, also prescribes 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.
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