National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN 16139:2025. It supersedes BS EN 16139:2013, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee FW/0/3, Office Furniture.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 July 2025.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 7 April 2025.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN 16139:2025) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 207 “Furniture”, the secretariat of which is held by UNI.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by January 2026, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by January 2026.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document will supersede EN 16139:2013.

EN 16139:2025 includes the following significant technical changes with respect to EN 16139:2013:

introduction of definition and requirements for single column seating;
the order of the annexes has been changed, with the normative annexes being placed before the informative;
changes to Annex G (informative) in terms of recommended dimensions;
introduction of “side to side” durability requirements for “single column seating” and “side to side” test method in Annex D (normative);
new Annex H (informative) new rationale for “single column seating”;
new Annex A (normative) Test methods for finger entrapment and shear and compression;
removal of requirement for rolling resistance of unloaded chairs;
suppression Annex G (informative) Rolling resistance of the unloaded chair;
new introduction of “leg rest” static requirement;
new Annex C (normative) introduction of “leg rest” durability requirement with a “leg rest” test method;
introduction of “backward fall test” requirement;
new Annex D (normative) Determination of seat loading point for seating with suspended flexible material.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organisations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

1 Scope

This document specifies requirements for the safety, strength and durability of all types of non-domestic seating intended to be used by adults with a weight of not more than 110 kg, including office visitor chairs.

This document does not apply to ranked seating, office work chairs, chairs for educational institutions, outdoor seating and to links for linked seating for which other European Standards exist. It does also not apply to work chairs for industrial use.

This document does not include requirements for the durability of upholstery materials, castors, reclining and tilting mechanisms and seat height adjustment mechanisms.

This document does not include requirements for the resistance to ageing, degradation and flammability.

This document does not include requirements for electrical safety.

Annex A (normative) contains test methods for finger entrapment and shear and compression.

Annex B (normative) contains a seat side-to-side durability test at D-G points.

Annex C (normative) contains a test method for Leg rest durability.

Annex D (normative) contains the determination of seat loading point for seating with suspended flexible material.

Annex E (informative) contains additional drop tests.

Annex F (informative) contains information on the level of test severity in relation to applications.

Annex G (informative) contains recommended dimensions for non-domestic chairs.

Annex H (informative) contains a rationale for single column seating.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Safety, strength and durability

4.1 General requirements

4.2 Holes and tubular/rigid components

4.3 Shear and compression points

4.4 Stability

4.5 Strength and durability

5 Information for use

6 Test report

Bibliography

BS EN 16139:2025

Furniture. Safety, strength and durability. Requirements and test methods for non-domestic seating

Current

Published:

31 Jul 2025