Electric Recliner Safety in the UK: BS EN 60335 and Transformer Standards Explained
An electric recliner sold in the UK is an electrical appliance, not just furniture with a motor attached, and it sits under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 2016 alongside the BS EN 60335 series covering household appliances. In this explainer, Furniture in Fashion sets out the framework in plain terms: why most recliners run their motors at low voltage from an external power supply, why that supply carries its own requirements under the BS EN 61558 transformer standards, and how UK plug and fuse rules and the Furniture and Furnishings (Fire) (Safety) Regulations 1988 also apply. The report argues that in real homes the risks are overwhelmingly mechanical and environmental rather than electrical: crushed cables drawn into the mechanism, power supplies trapped behind radiators and coiled extension reels. A clearance table covers how much space a recliner genuinely needs behind, in front and around its power supply....
