Outdoor furniture

Assessing the safety of furniture for the home garden, restaurant patio or camping ground.

The EN 581-1 standard covers the safety checks to be carried out on outdoor seating and tables for camping, domestic and contract use. It is essential that all suppliers and buyers of this type of furniture ensure that products they are sourcing have been tested to minimise complaints regarding safety issues. The standard addresses general safety requirements for outdoor furniture. For example, the standard calls for edges to be rounded.

What does EN 581-1 include?

To assess the existance of any shear and squeeze points, it is necessary to identify if the distance between two accessible parts moving relative to each other can be more than or equal to 7 mm, and less than or equal to 18 mm in any position during movement. This is important, especially when the product is being erected, adjusted and folded away.

All edges and corners are evaluated to see if they are rounded, chamfered or otherwise protected to avoid physical injury.

Tubular components are checked for any accessible holes at the ends with a diameter of between 7 mm and 12 mm, and a depth of more than or equal to 10 mm.

---