Crib 5 (BS 5852) Fire Test: What Actually Happens

If you’re specifying contract upholstery for a hotel, restaurant, office, bar, cinema, care setting etc., “Crib 5” is the phrase that keeps coming up.

For clarification:

Crib 5 = BS 5852 “Ignition Source 5”  is a UK contract upholstery fire test that uses a small flaming wooden crib to check how an upholstered seating build-up behaves under a realistic ignition challenge.

What happens in the Crib 5 test?

A lab builds a seat and places a small wooden crib on it. The crib is ignited using a syringe of alcohol so it burns like a real life open flame.

What the lab is watching for (in plain terms):

• Does it ignite easily?

• Does it keep flaming / grow?

• Does it self-extinguish within the required window?

  
  

All flaming should cease within 10 minutes for Ignition Source 5 testing.

Do you usually need FR treatment to meet Crib 5?

In practice: yes, many upholstery fabrics won’t achieve Crib 5 untreated.

Most projects get there via a treatment route typically involving:

• FR backcoating

• FR impregnation (where suitable),

• FR Lamination

We’re careful with Crib 5 work because performance shouldn’t come at the expense of the fabric. Rather than automatically applying a thick coating, we select the most appropriate route based on fibre blend, weave/pile structure and the finished handle you need - aiming for compliance with the minimum impact on appearance and feel.

Want Crib 5 FR treatment in the UK?

If you’ve got a fabric that needs Crib 5 (BS 5852 Ignition Source 5), we’ll be able to tell you quickly:

• whether it’s suitable,

• the most appropriate treatment route,

  
  

Please email charlie@tekhygiene.com with the composition + end use (hotel/restaurant/etc.) + meters, and he’ll advise the correct route for fire retardant upholstery treatment (Crib 5 UK).