As many continue to work from home, my company is providing office chairs to enable employees to set up a proper, ergonomic workstation at home. However, it has been pointed out that office chairs don't have to comply with the same fire safety requirements as domestic furniture because nobody sleeps in offices as a rule! Has anybody faced this issue?

In the scale of risks being introduced into people's homes due to lockdown and working from home, I really do not think the small quantity of infill and upholstery on an office chair is a significant risk.

Lets not forget that it was the Manchester Woolworths fire in 1979 (10 deaths) that initiated the furniture fire safety regs. This and a series of domestic fatal fires soon after, involved armchairs and sofas that heavily relied on huge quantities of combustible PU foam and non fire resisting coverings and the domestic fires occured before domestic smoke detectors were widely used. Office chairs largely do not fit this profile - but I accept there is no requirement for them to comply with these regs

We have supplied 10 year smoke detectors to staff who want them and issued an information pack relating to domestic fire safety. The emphasis is on detection and ensuring a means of escape - for instance when mortise or double locking front doors. There's a mention of electrical safety, distraction (work related emails/calls) when cooking and the risk of children/pets.

However, we have issued a 'mandatory' instruction that company issued laptops and mobile must not be charged overnight or when the home is empty.

I have attempted to ask my employer not to issue iPhones, as these cannot be charged when in use with headphones during the working day - thereby increasing the risk of an overnight charge, but that fell on deaf ears.

Society as a whole has changed since the introduction of the legislation.

There is a large, and increasing, portion of the population who do not smoke (the initiator of the blaze and subsequent regulation).

We are talking about a chair to be used for work purposes, not a lounging device where people regularly "nod off".

Typically work chairs do not have the upholstered sides down which the old public information films showed the lit cigarette dropping.

Few are framed in wood reducing the combustible load.

As to iPhones - lets just say the mother in law with her pacemaker will not be getting their current device

https://www.healthline.com/health-news/doctors-issue-warning-on-new-iphone-12-and-pacemakers

The issue of headhone / simultaneous charging is unfortunately spreading as other manufacturers choose to drop the 3.5mm jack in favour of a single USB-c

Edited by user 30 June 2021 07:32:25(UTC)  | Reason: FFS

Originally Posted by: Messey

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I have attempted to ask my employer not to issue iPhones, as these cannot be charged when in use with headphones during the working day - thereby increasing the risk of an overnight charge, but that fell on deaf ears.

Originally Posted by: Roundtuit

...

The issue of headphone / simultaneous charging is unfortunately spreading as other manufacturers choose to drop the 3.5mm jack in favour of a single USB-c

Both Lightning and USB-C devices can be charged and have headphones used simultaneously despite the lack of a 3.5mm headphone port.

This can be done with relatively cheap adaptors which allow 2 x lightning, or 2 x USB-C to be connected to the single port, one for headphones and one for power, or adaptors that have 1 x lightning/USB-C for charge and 1 x 3.5 port for headphones that connect to a single USB-C.

The Lightning devices are sold by Apple on their website, and through their retail stores, even though they are not Apple brand, they are Belkin.

Belkin also makes USB-C devices as described.

I am sure that there are lower-cost & probable more expensive devices available but, I tend to avoid cheap, unknown brands or unbranded devices at all costs.  Belkin for example has been around since I have been involved in computing, in the 80's making PC accessories.

There was a "teardown" done by a reputable organisation, I can't recall if it was the IET or Electrical Safety First that did it, but it compared a genuine Apple lightning power supply and an unbranded one found on one of the online "marketplaces", the component count on the Apple device was IIRC twice that of the unbranded.

When this was published as it happens I was in an Apple store in the other end of the country getting a device looked at for audio issues under warranty, and the person ahead of me was complaining about their power supply failing, it turns out they had bought a counterfeit unit from an online store.

I discussed the fake part issue with the duty store manager because it just happened that he served me.  I showed him the article which he read and didn't quite get the gist of it at first.  With a little clarification, he understood the point of it.

He then proceeded to tell me that their policy was not to shut devices down overnight, they were left on charge at all times.  Access to the wall sockets and the time taken to do this was excessive, and, they had never had fire anywhere in the world caused by one of their devices catching fire when left on charge overnight.

I suspect that many of the mobile device retailers are the same.

Genuine chare products from the device OEM must not be susceptible to overheating when used.

If they are then they are not legal for sale.

If they put the warning in their manuals that prolonged charging can overheat, then they are admitting that their devices are dangerous, and thus illegal.

It is foreseeable that such devices will be left on charge.

When I was rushed into the hospital back in November last year, my Apple watch was left on charge.

I didn't think about it, you don't when you think you are going to die.

So it was left on charge for months, literally.

It didn't set the house on fire, it has failed, it split open, but that is ongoing with Apple.

I regularly charge devices overnight, and my laptop is rarely disconnected from power.

But, I always use genuine, or reputable charge devices/power supplies, not the cheapest I can find on any online "marketplace".

I believe that the trick in preventing fires from such devices is to only use reputable and the right equipment for the job.

OK, it’s a few £ more, but in the grand scheme of things, it's nothing.

Sent one of these plug adapters to Trading Standards (arrived with the purchase of a product intended for the US  market) the "fuse" cover was just a moulding in the plastic with absolutely nothing behind it.

The on-line market places really need to be held to account - if the genuine article is £15 from the supplier how can anyone really be selling a "safe" product at one third of the MRRP?

Bluetooth headphones and the various "pod" offerings overcome the lack of a physical connection.