This document, contains the general safety philosophy, a guideline on the safety assessment that experts are recommended to use when drafting standards and guidance on specific general safety recommendations, and test methods, relating to hazards caused by holes and openings that are common to all types of furniture.
The Technical Report contains guidance that is intended to be used by designers and manufacturers to assess any inherent risk within their products.
The Technical Report is intended to address common risks posed by items of furniture to adults and children over 36 months old. For products designed for children under 36 months attention is drawn to CEN/TR 13387 series of documents.
Safety risks addressed by this document are hazards caused by holes and openings and specifically:
— entrapment of fingers;
— shearing or compression/crushing of fingers;
— sharp edges.
Safety risks not addressed by this document, because they are considered outside of the scope of this report and associated with specific product types, but can be caused by holes and openings include:
— entrapment of head and neck;
— entrapment of limbs;
These guidelines do not cover all types of hazards and risks, such as inappropriate use of products, or inadequate supervision of children.
NOTE Attention is drawn to the importance of ensuring that all other potential hazards relevant to the product e.g. stability, strength and the effects of electrical power etc., are fully addressed in the process of standards writing.
This document has one Annex:
Annex A (informative) – Anthropometric data.