Standards
Micom Laboratories Inc. offers test services for material testing, technical consulting and research and development. Micom specializes in both physical and mechanical testing and can test to the following standards and many others:
- ANSI/BIFMA
- ISTA
- ASTM
- SAE
- CAL TB 133
- Surface Coatings
- CGSB
- Transport Canada
- CPSC
- Telcordia
- HPB
- TAPPI
Important Standards Writing Organizations Links
The following links will bring you to the standards writing organizations. All of these websites offer large amounts of information on their standards and related topics. For specific questions, our experts will be happy to guide you in the right direction.
| TOPIC/ ORGANIZATION | URL LINK |
|---|---|
| American National Standards Institute | ANSI.org |
| American Society for Testing and Materials | ASTM.org |
| Institutionnal Furniture test standards | BIFMA.org |
| CAL TB 133 & 117 / flammability | BEARHFTI.ca.gov |
| Canadian General Standards Board (CGSB) | tpsgc-pwgsc.gc.ca |
| Consumer Safety Commission (CPSC) | CPSC.GOV |
| Health Products and Food Branch – Health Canada | hc-sc.gc.ca |
| International Safe Transit Association | ISTA.org |
| Society of Automotive Engineers | SAE.org |
| Tappi (corrugate) | Tappi.org |
| Transport Canada (Hazardous Materials Regulation) | www.tc.gc.ca/eng/tdg/TP14850-245.html |
Looking for a Standardized Answer?
ANSI/BIFMA
ANSI/BIFMA (American National Institute/Business Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association). This is an industry association that writes performance standards for office furniture in order to provide customers and specifiers a level plain field for furniture performance. Most of the BIFMA standards are performance standards to ensure performance, durability and structural adequacy of furniture found in offices, schools and other institutional environments.
We test to the following ANSI/BIFMA standards:
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.1-2011: Office Chairs
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.3-2011: Vertical Files
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.4-2012: Lounge Seating
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.5-2014: Desk Products
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.6-2010: Panel Systems
- ANSI/BIFMA X5.9-2012: Storage Units
- BIFMA HCF 8.1
- ANSI/SOHO S6.5-2011: Home office, small office furniture
ASTM
American Society for Testing and Materials. ASTM maintains more than 13000 standards on materials and products to improve or quantify their properties, enhance safety and facilitate trade.
Micom offers a multitude of test services done to the ASTM standards. For more information: ASTM, Material testing, polymer testing, coating testing.
CAL TB 133
CAL TB 133 stands for California Technical Bulletin. This is a test procedure for measuring the flammability resistance of seating products used in public occupancies. Despite the fact that CAL TB 133 was promulgated by the state of California, many states and jurisdictions in the US have made compliance with that standard mandatory.
CPSC
CPSC stands for Consumer Safety Commission. CPSC is charged with protecting the United States of America public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of the thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. The annual cost to the U.S. consumers in terms of Deaths, injuries, and property damage from product incidents is more than a trillion annually. Please see Juvenile Furniture for more information.
CGSB
CGSB stands for Canadian General Standards Board. Look up our web site for specific CGSB test procedures. Among others, we can test for vapor barriers, laser printer cartridges, office furniture, latex gloves and paints.
HPB
HPB stands for Health Canada’s Health Protection Branch. To a large extent HPB’s mission is the same as it is for the CPSC in the US. Please see Juvenile Furniture for more information.