LOFA and the GCA have joined together to offer an online e-learning training course to get the LOFA Assured message out to GCA Members and Garden Centre staff across the UK. 

The Garden Centre Association’s e-learning initiative – GCA GROW (Garden Retail Online Workshops) is the modern way to bring comprehensive training to garden centre teams. It has been developed to improve the knowledge of individuals and the service levels to valued garden centre customers. 

LOFA Assured is the initiative that LOFA developed to make sure that all cushions sold by their members comply with current Government Fire Safety Regulations in Partnership with Hertfordshire Trading Standards and FIRA (Furniture Industry Research Association) 

The LOFA Assured initiative is targeted at their members who manufacture furniture, these members are subjected to an educational audit scheme and all their cushions are tested by FIRA to make sure that the cushions are compliant with current Government Fire Safety Regulations. The audit requires the members to have full traceability on all cushions that they supply into the marketplace.  

LOFA approached the GCA to see if there was a way that they could work together and get this message out to the GCA members across the UK to help them ensure they have performed all due diligence in their purchasing process and are stocking safe and compliant furniture and equally important to inform the garden centre staff, who will be selling the furniture in store, why it is important that all outdoor furniture cushions meet these standards. 

This e-learning module was released at the end of July via the GCA website https://gca.org.uk/ via their GROW User portal.

We encourage every GCA member to take part to make sure the cushions they are selling in their stores are safe and compliant. 

To find out more about LOFA Assured visit https://lofa.co.uk/lofa_assured.html