Buyer's Guide
Crib 5 is the everyday name for the toughest ignition test in the UK furniture fire-safety series. If you buy beds or furniture for a hotel, care home, student hall or any building the public sleeps in, this is the standard that keeps you on the right side of the law.
The name comes from the test itself. A small timber crib — a stack of wooden sticks — is set alight on top of the material to simulate a substantial burning item, such as bedding catching fire. The furniture passes only if it resists ignition and does not sustain the flame. Formally this is Ignition Source 5 under British Standard BS 5852, the most severe of the standard ignition sources used for contract furniture.
You will see both terms used interchangeably. Ignition Source 5 is the technical name for the test; Crib 5 is the shorthand the trade uses, because a wooden crib is the igniting source. When a supplier says a product is Crib 5 compliant, they mean it has passed Ignition Source 5.
Crib 5 applies to contract environments — places of public assembly and sleeping accommodation — where fire risk is higher than in a private home. Typical settings include:
A bed you would buy for your own bedroom does not need to pass Crib 5; a bed for any of the settings above does.
For mattresses, divans and bed bases, Crib 5 sits inside a wider standard called BS 7177, which sets low, medium and high hazard levels. Most contract settings — hotels, care homes, student halls — need the medium-hazard level, which is met by Crib 5.
Compliance is only useful if you can evidence it. Ask your supplier for the fire test report or certificate for the exact product, and check the product label. Every contract bed and mattress DCF supplies meets Crib 5 / BS 7177 to the level your sector requires, with documentation provided on request — see our fire compliance overview.