You'd better sit down for this one

Finally, after a multi-week saga, our new office chairs for my research group at MIT will soon be on the way. Why, one might ask, was a multiple-week saga required?

Well, simply put, fire codes. Office chairs to be used in schools and educational institutions in Massachusetts allegedly have to satisfy the California 133 fire standard, which apparently involves putting the chair in a burning room for 80 seconds and observing temperature changes and carbon monoxide emissions. It's a much tougher standard than what most office chairs satisfy (116/117, which just requires non-flammability of the fabric covering).

I use the word "allegedly" because even after all this time, my officemates and I are still not sure what standard actually applies to our circumstances. This is because no one we spoke to---not at MIT, at the Cambridge Fire Department, or even at the State Fire Safety Office (the people responsible for these regulations!)---could give us a succinct, unambiguous answer as to what standards actually apply in our case. [The rules are filled with ambiguities and subtleties---typical for government, alas.]

Of course, the net result of all this makes me wonder just how much money is wasted trying to satisfy needlessly complicated regulations, instead of simplifying the regulations or making it crystal clear what regulations apply where. . . .