What Makes A Good Ergonomic Chair? Quality As Standard?

Have you ever wondered what a “BIFMA X5.1” is? or what is UL Greenguard? or How to know you are buying good quality Ergonomic Furniture? If so, hopefully, this little guide might provide a few of the answers.

When you are trying to purchase an ergonomic chair you find yourself getting more au fait with the jargon with every search from synchro-tilt to mesh backs. Until of course, you get to the Standard Certifications, that veritable numerical/alphabetic jungle that seems like the lovechild of Wordle and Sudoku, proudly and prominently displayed in the description.

What do they all mean?

What are the must-have certificates for your safety?

Let's be honest your number one priority has to be safety. It's all very well having the shiniest chair in the office but if it is a death trap then it's probably best to give it a miss.

Quality

We all know with the help of some good lighting and the right camera angles you can make anything look good otherwise Instagram would be a dark and scary place. But is it possible to tell which furniture is built to last and which quite simply isn’t?

A couple of extremely effective yardsticks are  iSo21015:2007  and of course ANSI/BIFMA X5.1. They are quite literally the gold standards for seating quality and are available in seats such as Eazeechairs M5 Pro.

Air Quality

If you have ever wished that they would provide a gas mask along with your complimentary  Allen Keys then you’ll be overjoyed at the growth of UL Greenguard’s mission. The analysis involves testing using hi-tech sensors to detect any trace of emissions[eg benzene, formaldehyde, and styrene]. Then reassures consumers that a product reaches their high bar for the low release of VOC. ( Volatile Organic Compounds) You know, that new car smell. Well, UL Greenguards Gold standard means that very low levels of potentially harmful gases are being released. If you want to avoid killing next door’s canary when you unbox your new chair this is the standard to look for. And one you can find in The Royalty of Sustainability Herman Miller and the majority of their range including, we are reliably informed the imperious Aeron.

 

Which ones represent sustainable credentials?

Whether you abhor waste, hate environmental degradation, or are just searching for good value sustainability is seeping into the decisions of our accounts departments and our consumers alike. If we are searching for sustainable /green credentials these might help. Based on the principles outlined by William McDonough and Dr. Michael Braungart’s 2002 book ‘Cradle to Cradle, Remaking the Way We Make Things’, C2C seeks to help avoid the approximate 9.7m tonnes of Furniture that the Dept of Commerce says went to landfill in 2018 alone. “Cradle to Cradle Certified® is the global standard for products that are safe, circular, and responsibly made.” Available in furniture like Steel Cases and impressive Think Chairs.

In the interests of balance, we probably should address the other side of all this science and engineering practicality, the very subjective world of design. Design, as you'd expect of flamboyant creative types, is marked with a party rather than an international standard. Annual celebrations are most likely awkward industry dinners of fake pleasantries, awards, and forced smiles. The Oscars, minus the movie stars but with all the red carpets and big hitters. One of the most well recognized is Red Dot. It is no wonder that this colorful work of ingenuity was one of the recent winners, Efurnit’s Bobo Stool.