Corporate News
The real cost of getting workplace compliance wrong
From reinstatement of a dismissed employee to unlimited damages that could go into hundreds of thousands of dollars. As an employer, what could you be hit by? Businesses have to deal with a really complex set of rules when it comes to managing employees. As difficult...
How the workplace affects employee health and wellbeing
The most direct effect that workplaces have on employee health and wellbeing is through the occurrence of injuries or illness due to work. Our workplaces affect the types of risks involved. Workplaces with high levels of physical work (for example, those that involve...
Storm Over Procurement Loopholes
A storm is brewing over government procurement policies within the furnishing sector, with Members of Australia’s peak industry body, the Australasian Furnishing Association (AFA), pushing for reform. It seems that the AFA may have ‘hit a nerve’, with the issue...
Procurement requirement ALERT! New office furniture Standard published
Suppliers of Office desks, office workstations, tables intended to be used as office desks, or the increasinglypopular sit-stand desks can expect that their customers will request that products meet the new Standard.The Australian/New Zealand Standard, AS/NZS...
Australian Manufacturing – what does the future look like?
Australian furnishing industry manufacturers are URGED to submit positive and productive articles to this global media group about the steps they are taking to ensure that their business evolves and thrives post COVID-19.
Australian Government must stick to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules.
Post the COVID-19 pandemic Australia needs a strong focus on Government Procurement.
Understanding Digital Marketing Gobbledygook
Blogs. Posts. Likes. SEO. PPC. Analytics. IoT. Is it all gobbledygook to you? Let’s make it short, sharp and simple. An interactive introduction to online digital marketing that won’t make your brain explode. And better still, won’t make you feel like a ‘dummy’. Learn...
Bunks and Bean Bags top the list of failures
A further nine furniture product safety recalls were reported to the ACCC this month, with Bunk Beds and Bean Bags heading the list and eBay being amongst the sellers under scrutiny. Retailers have been warned to meet their obligations. Concerns are increasing over...
Warning on Toppling Furniture following the Death of another Child
NSW Fair Trading and other consumer affairs agencies across the country have launched a campaign to ensure parents and carers know how to protect their children and prevent a serious accident from toppling furniture and TVs. NSW Fair Trading Commissioner, Rod Stowe,...
WORKSHOP – How Do Specifiers Select Furniture and Furnishings for Major Projects?
In this workshop learn how furniture and furnishing products are identified, selected and specified in an architectural and interior design project. We’ll work through each of the stages that architects and specifiers use to make their choices. Starting at the design...
Focus on furnishing industry standards now at critical point
Standards are applied to protect buyers, consumers and users. They are used to demonstrate a commitment to the community’s expectation of a safe and sustainable Australia and are recognised as a value-add to Australia’s economic efficiency, trade and international...
Consumers to benefit from increased penalties under Australian Consumer Law
Federal Parliament has increased maximum financial penalties under the Australian Consumer Law (ACL). In its final report on the ACL Review, Consumer Affairs Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) recommended penalties for a breach of the ACL be raised from $1.1 million...
The Impact of Social Media in the Workplace
Social media is constantly in the news. The privacy issues facing Facebook and the recent devaluing of that business on the share market is making headlines. Many people use social media to find out the news, to hear and share opinions, to connect with other people,...
Be Specified! How to get your furnishing products into major projects – Part 2 TEASER
Part 2, graduate of architecture, designer and visualiser, Jonathan Muller, shares his expertise on how to get your furnishing products in front of architects and specifiers. By building a 3D model of your products, and offering it for free download, you are creating...
Be Specified! How to get your furnishing products into major projects – Part 2
In this second instalment, graduate of architecture, designer and visualiser, Jonathan Muller, shares his expertise on how to get your furnishing products in front of architects and specifiers. By building a 3D model of your products, and offering it for free...
Be Specified! How to get your furnishing products into major projects.
In this first instalment, architect and designer, Jonathan Muller, shares his expertise on how to increase your turnover of locally designed and constructed furniture tenfold…..Or even more! You don’t do it by clinging to an outdated business model where powerful...
Be Specified! How to get your furnishing products into major projects
PART 1 In this first instalment, architect and designer, Jonathan Muller, shares his expertise on how to increase your turnover of locally designed and constructed furniture tenfold…..Or even more! You don’t do it by clinging to an outdated business model where...
AMAZON & EBAY SUBJECT TO RECALLS OF FURNITURE PRODUCTS – ACTION REQUIRED
A further three furniture product safety recalls have been reported this week, with all three posing a potential choking/suffocation hazard to young children. Concerns are increasing over product that is not only unsafe, but that also does not contain the necessary...
Furniture Retailing in Australia
Well furnished: Increased residential building construction activity has promoted demand - a summary of recent IBIS World Reports. The AFA has summarised a range of Ibis World Reports on behalf of its Members. This report is in relation to Furniture Retailing in...
Steinhoff write-offs pass $US14 billion as accounts crisis deepens
What does this mean for its Australian operations and the furniture retail market in general? READ MORE
Biosecurity and Illegal Logging Free Service
Did you know, the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has a free service available to confidentially report information about suspected breaches of Australian biosecurity laws? Redline allows callers to report matters that may not be detected, reported or...
ATO subject to phishing scam alert
BEWARE there is a new Phishing Scam Alert circulating at the moment posing as the Australian Taxation Office. You may receive an email that requests your credit/debit card details. Do not click on the link in the email or disclose your personal information. This scam...
IKEA recall of children’s furniture still on the minds of young families
In recent times the headlines have read ‘IKEA Re-announces recall of MALM and other models of chests and dressers due to serious tip-over hazard; 8th child fatality reported; consumers urged to choose between refund or repair. These headlines have been related to US...
Terrified of online competitors? If you can’t beat them, join them!
Websites and digital marketing tools are considered a vital element for the survival of every industry, especially yours! Consumers of furniture and furnishing services are high volume users of digital platforms when making their purchasing decisions, especially as a...
Importers Beware – YOU are legally responsible for the goods YOU import
Are you aware that your business is responsible for any product that you import, manufacture, sell, supply or distribute? This means that you can be held liable for any defect or other condition that renders the product unsafe and results in injury, death or damage....
Australia’s only dedicated commercial furniture exhibition
Co-located with the Australasian Hospitality Industry Exhibition, FURNITEX Commercial is the go to event for procurement officers, specifiers and property developers looking to fit out, design, refurbish, upgrade or modernise their commercial properties. Furniture and...
Consumers put furniture through the Australian Consumer Law test on a regular basis
Sofas that have been falsely sold as ‘leather’, recliner mechanisms that don’t work properly causing injury, lounge cushions that come apart at the seams, complaints handling call centres that refuse to take calls, sub-standard repairs and toxic smells that emit from...
Rise in injury claims for chair accidents at restaurants and other businesses
Each year, thousands of people end up in emergency rooms after serious chair accidents. People fall when chairs collapse, fingers are severed by chairs with jagged edges, hands get crushed between seats and their bases and stems or bases can snap causing serious body...
What’s in it for all of us?
What do Apprenticeship Support Australia, Red Points, FURNITEX and Design Furniture all have in common? These businesses are all Australasian Furnishing Association Members, but all for different reasons. The Australasian Furnishing Association (AFA) is the peak...
Who wants to be the next furniture mogul? Parents take note.
Is Australia gearing up to find the next furniture mogul the likes of IKEA founder, Ingvar Kamprad? Federal and state governments are coming together to provide $187 million to fund 20,000 new apprenticeships over the next four years. This investment recognises the...