GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) approved the introduction of the safety and performance standard: ANSI/BIFMA X6.5-2022 Home Office and Occasional-Use Desk, Table and Storage Products.

The BIFMA Sub-Committees for Desks, Tables and Files worked for three and one-half years to introduce this ANSI standard. The standard is a revision and redesignation of ANSI/SOHO S6.5-2008(R2013) Small Office / Home Office. The Sub-Committees began work in 2018 with an invitation to broad industry stakeholder participation to revise and redesignate ANSI/SOHO S6.5. 

The Sub-Committees revised ANSI/BIFMA X5.5 Desk and Table Standard in 2021 and used this standard and ANSI/BIFMA X5.9-2019 Storage Units as the basis for the Home Office and Occasional-Use Desk, Table and Storage Products standard. According to the sub-committee, a special emphasis was placed on the Stability, Leg Strength, and Height Adjustable Desk/Table Surfaces tests. 

Several multi-stakeholder lab workshops were held in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 and 2021 the draft proposals were reviewed by the BIFMA Association and approved. The national consensus standard was finalized and approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) on April 5, 2022.

The timeline in revising this standard, both before and during the pandemic, provided timely insights that benefited the development of tests and requirements for products used in the home office. 

The Scope of ANSI/BIFMA X6.5-2022 includes the following: “This standard provides a common basis for evaluating the safety, durability and structural performance of home office and occasional-use desk, table and storage products.”

Copies of the new ANSI/BIFMA standard are available from BIFMA for members, and available from Techstreet for non-members.