October 16, 2018
MARIETTA, GA., October 16, 2018 — In response to a growing number of incidents and injuries that occur each year with outdoor furniture usage, UL today announced the development of a rigorous science-based safety certification document for outdoor furniture to help retailers and consumers identify safer furniture. Data from the Consumer Product Safety Commission reveals that nearly three million outdoor furniture products were recalled between 2016 and 2018 due to safety risks and problems. These recalls highlight the need for more stringent testing and standards that require a product to be designed and manufactured with the highest levels of quality.
Working with The Home Depot and industry stakeholders, UL developed UL 4041, a Certification document for Safety of Outdoor Furniture. UL 4041 evaluates products for dangers like corrosion, stability, strength, shear and pinch points, endurance and durability. The newly developed requirements help manufacturers and retailers evaluate the safety of their products, mitigate risk of injury during use, and empower consumers to identify safer patio furniture.
“UL 4041 is a rigorous safety program designed to demonstrate that outdoor furniture does not present a risk of injury under normal use and can withstand reasonable, foreseeable misuse,” said Alberto Uggetti, vice president and general manager of UL’s Environment division.
In process to be approved as an ANSI Standard in 2019, UL 4041 has already been used to evaluate outdoor furniture products. The Home Depot began certifying outdoor furniture products for the 2019 season with plans to expand to all products in scope for the Standard. The Certification document is applicable to outdoor furniture including tables, chairs, multi-seat products, benches, hanging chairs, swings and chaise lounge chairs.
For more information about UL 4041, visit https://www.shopulstandards.com/ProductDetail.aspx?UniqueKey=34551.
About UL
UL fosters safe living and working conditions for people everywhere through the application of science to solve safety, security and sustainability challenges. The UL Mark engenders trust enabling the safe adoption of innovative new products and technologies. Everyone at UL shares a passion to make the world a safer place. We test, inspect, audit, certify, validate, verify, advise and train and we support these efforts with software solutions for safety and sustainability. To learn more about us, visit UL.com.