The FF&E fire documentation matrix

At a glance

Each row feeds the compliance columns of the FF&E schedule template in this library: fire regime, hazard category, fire standard, composite ref, test report ref, report date and label. The level comes from the premises’ fire risk assessment, in writing, before you specify.

How to read the matrix: regime, level, evidence

Three questions, in this order, settle most FF&E fire paperwork.

1. Which regime? The 1988 Regulations cover furniture of any description ordinarily intended for private use in a dwelling (regulation 3(1), definition replaced from 30 October 2025). The FIRA and BFC guide reads that as leaving hotels to the Fire Safety Order and bringing holiday homes, holiday apartments and furnished lets within the Regulations (section 9.5). Chalet hotels and similar mixed premises are a grey area. The Order itself excludes domestic premises, meaning premises occupied as a private dwelling, apart from the shared parts of a building with two or more sets of domestic premises (articles 2 and 6). The Order applies in England and Wales.
2. Which level? In non-domestic premises the Responsible Person sets it through the fire risk assessment (article 9(1)). The guide says it should be passed to the specifier or purchaser, and that suppliers should have it in writing. The standards give typical examples, not requirements.
3. Which evidence? The standard for the item type, the report for the exact build, the label where the standard requires one. The Home Office guide for sleeping accommodation lists BS 5852, BS 7176, BS 7177 and BS 5867-2 for upholstery, mattresses and curtains, says they are for guidance only, and says the findings of the risk assessment dictate the level.

Linings fixed to walls and ceilings have a second route. In England, Building Regulations requirement B2 applies to the building work and Approved Document B gives the classes, in addition to the fire risk assessment. A panelling supplier may need to answer both.

Wall panelling and fabric wall linings in England

Requirement B2 of the Building Regulations 2010 asks that internal linings adequately resist the spread of flame over their surfaces and have a reasonable rate of heat release or fire growth if ignited. Approved Document B volume 2 (2019 edition incorporating the 2020, 2022, 2025 and 2026 amendments, for use in England) gives the classes in Table 6.1:

• What counts as a wall. The Document says a wall for this purpose does not include doors and door frames, window frames, architraves, cover moulds, picture rails, skirtings and similar narrow members, or fireplace surrounds, mantle shelves and fitted furniture (paragraph 6.3). Requirement B2(2) defines internal linings as the materials or products used in lining any partition, wall, ceiling or other internal structure, so panelling that lines a room is within it.
• Some lower-class areas are allowed. Parts of walls in a room may be of lower performance, but no worse than D-s3, d2. The total area of lower-performance lining should be less than half the room’s floor area, up to a maximum of 20 m² in residential accommodation or 60 m² in non-residential accommodation (paragraph 6.4). Building control decides how this applies to your room.
• Wallcoverings. For other circulation spaces, a wallcovering that conforms to BS EN 15102, achieves at least class C-s3, d2 and is bonded to a class A2-s3, d2 substrate is also acceptable (Table 6.1, note 1).
• Read the class. Classes run from A1 (best) to F. The s figure is smoke production (s1 lowest) and d is flaming droplets (d0 lowest). A class ending s3, d2 means no limit is set for smoke or droplets (Appendix B, B6 and B7).
• The evidence is for the system. Appendix B says test evidence must be checked as applicable to the intended use, because small differences in fixing method, joints, dimensions and air gaps might significantly affect performance (B2). A classification is valid only for the product fixed to a substrate of the kind it was tested on (B8). Tests and assessments should come from organisations with the expertise, for example notified bodies or UKAS-accredited laboratories (B5), and an assessment is not a way around a test where one is needed (B3).
• Old British classes. The 2025 amendments removed the national reaction-to-fire classes from the Document, and Table 6.1 now gives European classes only. The FIRA guide’s own advice on wall coverings (2010) uses the older British classes. A certificate in British classes needs building control’s view.

Headboards and fitted joinery: where the sources run out

Headboards. The 1988 Regulations list headboards of beds and divans as furniture, but only for private use in a dwelling (regulation 3(1)). BS 7177 is for mattresses, mattress pads, divans and bed bases, and BS 7176 for upholstered seating. None of the documents we read names a standard for an upholstered headboard in a hotel. A panel fixed to a wall might be treated as a lining, but we could not confirm it. Ask the fire risk assessor or building control which route applies, in writing, and then ask the supplier for a report on the headboard as built.

Fitted joinery. Approved Document B says its requirement B2 does not include guidance on furniture and fittings, and the FIRA guide treats non-upholstered furniture as building contents for the risk assessment to cover. Neither prescribes a test. Record ‘n/a’ with the reason in the schedule unless the assessment asks for evidence.

How to read an upholstery fire test report

The FIRA and BFC guide says test houses are unlikely to certify full compliance with BS 7176 or BS 7177, because they cannot police the labelling and the re-testing. A certificate usually states that the item complies with the ignition resistance requirements of the named category. Everything else you need to know is in what the report says about the item tested. The drawing shows the parts of a report, using placeholders, and the table gives what to look for in each.

Nine checks on a test report

Work down the report with the item’s drawing and specification open beside it.

Signs that a report does not cover your piece

• A cover report offered for a finished seat. Fabric suppliers commonly test over a standard 35 kg/m3 foam. The guide says that result is primarily for guidance, that a different foam, a lower density or another producer calls for direct tests, and that distinctly different fillings are hard to equate (sections 7.2.1 and 7.2.2). A feather or fibre wrap is a different filling.
• A foam certificate offered as the seat’s certificate. The foam has its own tests. The finished composite has others (A1.1).
• A standard number with no level. ‘BS 7176’ alone does not say Low, Medium or High (section 7.1.1).
• A different cloth. A different weave, pattern or finish from the one specified, not a different colour of it (A1.3). The same goes for a different filling or a different component supplier.
• A treated cover with no water soak, or a washable cover with no cleaning cycles recorded (A1.2).
• A lower level than the one set, such as cigarette and match only where the premises need flame source 5.
• An undated, old or abbreviated report, or results from a laboratory not accredited for the test (sections 7.2.1 and 8.4; A1.3).
• A test to another country’s standard. The guide says California’s test criteria are very different from those used in the UK and Europe (section 10).
• A claim with no report. There is no formal scheme for proving compliance with a standard, so a supplier can simply claim it (A1.4). Ask for the report.

What to keep, and where it goes in the schedule

The FF&E schedule is an index, not the record. Keep the reports, the label photographs, the written category and the classification reports in one certificate file, and let the schedule hold the references.

• Fire regime and hazard category: the written confirmation, with its date and who gave it. The FIRA guide advises suppliers to hold it in writing and gives six years as the period in its example.
• Fire standard, composite ref, test report ref, report date: one set per upholstery composite, and one per curtain Type, mattress build and lining system.
• Label fitted: a photograph of the label on a first-off item, or the agreed alternative for built-in work.
• After approval: any change of cover, filling, interliner, treatment, board, adhesive, substrate or component supplier goes back through the evidence before production.

Make Bespoke Studio coordinates manufacture through partner workshops and asks each workshop for this evidence per item. Which composites and constructions a partner has already tested is confirmed project by project and is not stated on this sheet.

Before specification or order, [Responsible Person or fire safety adviser] confirms to [designer] in writing, for each space, the fire regime [fire risk assessment under the Fire Safety Order 2005 / Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988] and the level: hazard category [Low / Medium / High] for seating and mattresses, curtain Type [A / B / C], and lining class [class] by location. Quotations are based on it: [reference, date].

Before production the supplier provides the evidence named in the FF&E schedule, from a laboratory accredited for the method (UKAS or equivalent), for the build as supplied: (a) upholstery: a report for each composite (cover, any interliner, filling) to BS 7176 [Medium] Hazard; (b) mattresses: BS 7177 [Medium]; (c) curtains: BS 5867-2 Type [B] with durability statement; (d) wall panelling: a BS EN 13501-1 classification of the system as installed, class [C-s3, d2], on the substrate shown on the drawings; (e) the permanent label where the standard requires one. Not accepted: a certificate for the cover, foam or board alone; a standard number without a level or class; a report for a different build; an undated or supplier-only statement; a report older than [12] months. A change of cover (other than colour), filling, interliner, treatment, board, adhesive, substrate or supplier after approval needs new evidence before production. Evidence is held in the project certificate file and referenced in the schedule by report reference and date.

Standards and sources

• FIRA and BFC, Fire safety of furniture and furnishings in the contract and non-domestic sectors: 2010, updated 2011; read in full 5 Nov 2026.
• Approved Document B volume 2 (2019 edition, 2026 amendments; England): B2, section 6, Appendices B, C read 5 Nov 2026.
• Fire Safety Order 2005 (arts 2, 3, 6, 9); 1988 Regulations (reg 3(1)): read 5 Nov 2026; the Order applies in England and Wales.
• BS 7176, BS 7177, BS 5867-2, BS 5852, BS EN 13501-1: BSI lists 7176, 7177 and 5852 as Current; paywalled, texts not read.
• Home Office, Fire safety risk assessment: sleeping accommodation (12 Sep 2023): read 5 Nov 2026.

Questions we are asked

Which fire certificate do I need for hotel furniture?

It depends on the item. Upholstered seating is tested to BS 7176 at the hazard category the hotel’s fire risk assessment sets, mattresses to BS 7177, and curtains to BS 5867-2 at a Type. Each needs a test report for the exact build from an accredited laboratory. Wall panelling in England is classified under the Building Regulations instead. The Responsible Person should give you the levels in writing.

Does a fabric’s Crib 5 certificate cover the finished chair?

Not by itself. A fabric report applies to the cloth tested over the foam named in it. The FIRA and BFC guide says a different foam, density or producer, or a distinctly different filling such as a feather wrap, calls for direct tests of the real composite. Ask for a report on your cover, interliner and filling together.

Are curtains covered by the same standard as the upholstery?

No. Curtains, drapes and blinds are covered by BS 5867-2, with Types A, B and C and their own cleansing tests. A seating report says nothing about them.

What fire class must timber wall panelling reach in England?

Approved Document B volume 2, Table 6.1, sets D-s3, d2 for small rooms, C-s3, d2 for other rooms and B-s3, d2 for other circulation spaces, with some allowance for lower-class areas. The class is for the panelling system as installed, so the substrate and fixing matter. Confirm the room categories and the evidence with building control.

How old can a fire test report be?

The FIRA and BFC guide says enforcement authorities normally expect an accredited certificate no more than a year old, and less for larger production runs. That is an expectation, not a legal limit. Set the period you want in the specification.

What fire evidence does an upholstered headboard need?

No standard for hotel headboards is named in the sources we read. Ask the fire risk assessor or building control which route applies, in writing, then ask the supplier for a report on the headboard as built.