This page is not a bland safety notice but is an important warning that we implore you not to ignore.

If you are about to purchase a robotic massage chair in the UK (or even if you've already bought one), please read this critical information.

The vast majority of massage chairs currently being sold in the UK have neither been tested nor certificated as safe for use in the United Kingdom. As bizarre as this may seem, it is very much the case. In short, most massage chair importers have not tested the products they are importing to comply with the stringent British Standards Fire and Safety Regulations. Below we show you how to determine whether the massage chair you are considering purchasing is or isn't compliant. Should you have already purchased a non-compliant chair, you legally have the right to be refunded for the total cost of the chair, no matter how long ago you bought it. The Rotai Ultimate Dual-Core RT8900 is one of the very few robotic massage chairs that legally complies and is certified to all four BS Fire and Safety standards.

So what are the chances of a massage chair going up in flames? Here are three comparatively recent news articles from 2019 and 2021 with tragic endings involving massage chairs. Hopefully, reading these articles will make you carefully check that the chair you buy (or have already bought) is 100% fire and safety compliant. Please be safety-driven rather than price-driven. Be mindful that, no matter what price massage chairs are sold for, whether cheap or expensive, in the UK, they are, in all likelihood, being sold illegally. Do your homework and follow the instructions below.

In 1988 the United Kingdom introduced what can only be described as necessary and draconian Fire and Safety Regulations. The reason was to make a concerted effort to lower the many deaths resulting from furniture fires containing untreated and non-fire-retardant upholstery and coverings. These regulations have proved particularly successful as deaths have dramatically fallen in the United Kingdom while no significant drop has been noticed in any other country.
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In short, the UK government made it compulsory that any upholstered furniture for sale in the UK, whether imported or otherwise, had to be very different to those chairs imported by EU countries and the USA. These regulations have made it a criminal offence in the UK (punishable by a maximum of five years in prison) for any importer to sell upholstered furniture that has not been tested and certificated by a UKAS (United Kingdom Accreditation Service) testing authority.

Massage chairs are not simply an "upholstered chair or sofa". They are full of heat-generating electrical components and motors that, in terms of a fire risk, place them in a far higher category than a simple chair/sofa. You obviously would not dream of buying, for example, an electric blanket (remember them!) if you knew that they were manufactured with a flammable non-fire retardant material.

If you are reading this at the time of writing (July 2022), the answer is "very probably". Trading Standard Officers are becoming far more stringent in their efforts to stop non-compliant robotic massage chairs from reaching our shores. This includes turning back containers of chairs that arrive by sea without the correct permanent warning labels and the UKAS testing house certificates.

Many massage chair importers "claim" to know little or nothing about the vigorous and expensive testing procedures that the chairs need to comply with the Fire & Safety Regulations. However, let us be brutally frank when we draw your attention to the many importers who feign ignorance of the safety regulations. We are also aware some importers will confirm that their chairs are fire and safety compliant when they are blatantly not. To purchase a chair without UKAS certification can only be described as having a potential fire hazard in your home/business.

You may have noticed that there are no "big brand names" for sale, such as (but not limited to) Panasonic or Sanyo, selling massage chairs in the UK. This anomaly is mainly because of the expense involved; they're not prepared to manufacture the upholstery and covering material to the standards required by the UK government. Indeed, a few years ago, the manufacturers of a Panasonic branded massage chair (Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co Ltd) recalled over 68,000 massage chairs for testing and repairs confirming that the "chairs could catch fire".

The vast majority of massage chairs sold in the UK market are branded by the distributors and do not reveal the source of the chairs. However, Rotai is the largest factory in the world, specialising in massage chairs with some 2,000 employees, and we are proud to be trading under the Rotai badge.

Unfortunately, it is not a simple matter of checking a label on the chair. However, following these instructions can accurately determine whether you are being offered a compliant or non-compliant massage chair.

• When you see the chair at a retailer or distributor, it should have a stringed label attached with a cigarette icon suggesting that the chair is fire retardant. This is simply a label which has, by law, to be attached to the chair whilst on display. It is not in the slightest proof that the chair is compliant with UK Fire & Safety standards. It is merely a display label.

• Somewhere on the outside of the chair (often towards the back or underneath an irremovable cushion), there will be a permanently attached (generally sewn-in) label confirming the date that the chair was manufactured and its specific batch/serial number.
  
  However, this information still does not confirm that the chair has been tested and certified by a UKAS testing house.
  
  The art world says that the easiest part of a forgery is the signature and label on the back. It's no different with fire safety labels on massage chairs.
  

• Now the critical part. Ask the retailer/distributor to show you the actual copy of the certificate from the UKAS testing house. This certificate must confirm that the certificate refers explicitly to the chair's permanent fire safety label information. If you are purchasing online (we suggest you don't before having a full demonstration of the chair in a showroom), ask the retailer to send you an image of the label, serial number, and testing house certificate.

(If the certificate you are shown is not like this certificate, then it is not a fire certificate)