BIFMA recently issued a new edition for BIFMA HCF8.1 – Health Care Furniture Design For Cleanability.

Many organizations use the BIFMA standards as a qualification requirement in their purchasing process.  Most of them rely on the information supplied by vendors including their warranties.  In few cases, a letter signed by the vendor certifying conformity to the said standards was required.  To my knowledge, only two purchasing groups in North America have a more formal process. However both groups, except for some limited time periods, largely failed at properly monitoring the information that was supplied to them.  This was mainly due to the lack of will/budget to properly allocate relevant resources in sufficient quantities and on a continuous basis.  Indeed, maintaining that type of program requires dedicated technically competent resources with the funds to support them. Experience indicates this can really only work on a cost-recovery basis.  Otherwise, certification costs go through the roof and nobody is willing to absorb them.  Personally, I believe BIFMA is uniquely positioned to successfully rise to the challenge.    

Many organizations use the BIFMA standards as a qualification requirement in their purchasing process.  Most of them rely on the information supplied by vendors including their warranties.

BIFMA has been publishing testing standards since 1973.  In 2010 BIFMA unfolded its first evaluation and certification system, Level® a sustainability certification program for office furniture.