How changes to regulations could affect timber stairs

In this blog BWF Technical Director, Kevin Underwood explores how upcoming regulatory changes could affect timber stairs in construction. It outlines the UK government’s proposed reform of construction product regulations and highlights how timber stairs, though not currently covered by a designated standard—could soon be classified as critical to safety.

This blog also explains how the European Union is progressing toward harmonised standards for timber stairs through the Construction Products Regulation (EU-CPR). It details the role of technical committees like CEN/TC 175 WG 37 in developing these standards, with new regulations potentially coming into force by 2030.

The government’s construction products reform green paper proposed regulating construction products under three systems.

A: For products not covered by a designated standard or subject to a technical assessment:

• A risk-based general safety requirement would apply.

B: For products covered by a designated standard or subject to a technical assessment:

• It will continue to be mandatory to comply with a designated standard or technical assessment and to provide the necessary information to demonstrate compliance, including affixing a product mark, e.g. CE or UKCA.

C: For products classified as critical to safe construction:

• Additional measures would apply, including that all such products be covered by a national or recognised standard and requirements to support safe installation.

There is potential for stairs to fall under any of these systems. Stairs are not currently covered by a designated standard, but they do pose a safety risk with hundreds of people each year being killed, or visiting hospital, following a slip, trip or fall associated with stairs. The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) are so concerned with the number of deaths and injuries linked to stairs that they launched their Safer Stairs campaign prompting the government to review Approved Document K.

There may, however, be changes made to European Standards over the next few years that could see timber stairs fall within the scope of a new harmonised or designated standard and, therefore, be regulated under the new EU Construction Products Regulations (EU-CPR).

Through the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) working group looking at timber in stairs, CEN/TC 175 WG 37, we have received notification that the Construction Product Regulation (CPR) Expert Group of the European Commission (EC) has identified the scope for the product family structural timber products/elements and ancillaries and this is going to include timber stairs.

The EC CPR Expert Group develops the technical content related to the CPR Acquis, which consists of harmonised standards, other technical specifications, and complimentary legal acts. The group is supported by sub-groups corresponding to the product families identified by the CPR and by some sub-groups dealing with horizontal issues.

The list of product families forms Annex VII of the new EU CPR (Regulation (EU) 2024/3110). Timber stairs will be included in product family 13 – structural timber products/elements and ancillaries, sub family III – structural mechanically fastened timber products and elements.

There is also a precedent for the CE marking of timber stairs as there is an existing European Assessment Document (EAD) for timber stair kits, EAD 34006-00-0506.

The European standards developed by CEN/TC 175 WG 37 for timber stairs are,

• BS EN 15644:2008, traditionally designed prefabricated stairs made of solid wood – specifications and requirements.
• DD CEN/TS 15680:2007, prefabricated timber stairs. Mechanical test methods.
• BS EN 14076:2013, Timber stairs – Terminology
• BS EN 16481:2014, Timber stairs – Structural design – calculation methods.

As a member of CEN/TC 175 WG 37 I will be kept informed of developments with regards to the harmonisation of the EN 15644. It is likely that the key document in the process will be the Standardisation Request (SReq) issued to CEN/TC 175 by the EC.

In the most recent publication from the Acquis Expert Group, six product families, including the product family for doors, windows, shutters, gates and related building hardware (product family 02 in the CPR and priority 4 in the acquis process) are expected to have received their SReq before 2026. The first product family in the second group, and priority 7 for the Acquis group, will be structural timber products/elements and ancillaries (mandate M112) and wood panels and elements (mandate M 113) as these two product families have been merged. This could mean that the draft SReq is received by CEN/TC 175 early in 2026 with the drafting of the new standards for timber stairs starting towards the end of 2026 or early 2027.  Technical committees have been given three years to develop new standards and so the new standards for timber stairs may be published in 2030.