About 16,000 height-adjustable ergonomic office chairs sold online through several major retailers have been recalled because the backrest can detach while someone is sitting in it. Bureau Office, Inc., the New York company that does business as Branch and imports the chairs, has received 11 reports of backrests detaching. No injuries have been reported.
The remedy is a free repair kit rather than a refund. It contains a replacement backrest, three bolts, an Allen key, and installation instructions, and the company says it is contacting all known purchasers directly.
The recall is narrower than the sales window suggests, and identifying an affected chair takes two specific pieces of information rather than one. Anyone who bought a Branch ergonomic chair in the past year should stop sitting in it until they have checked both.
Only Chairs Built in a Seven-Month Window Are Covered
The recall applies only to chairs whose backrest anchors were incorrectly installed at the time of manufacture, and only to units manufactured between September 10, 2025 and April 22, 2026. Chairs with correctly manufactured anchors are not included.
Sixteen product SKUs fall within scope, covering eight color combinations, each in a standard and a knock-down base version. The colors are black on black, pebble on white, black on white, sand on white, graphite on white, light blue on white, poppy on white, and baltic on white. The SKUs are not a continuous range. They are eight numbers in the 11-01-00 series, specifically 40, 43, 50, 51, 53, 54, 55, and 56, each ending in V5 for the standard base or V6 for the knock-down base. SKUs appear on the side of the product packaging.
The chairs were sold from approximately December 2025 through July 2026 for between $320 and $350, online at BranchFurniture.com, Amazon.com, WestElm.com, ContainerStore.com, OfficeDepot.com, and other websites. An additional 180 were sold in Canada, where Health Canada issued a matching notice. The chairs were manufactured in Thailand.
The Label Under the Seat Decides It
Because the recall turns on manufacture date rather than model alone, the SKU on the box is not sufficient. The manufacture date is printed on a label underneath the seat cushion.
Most people who bought a chair eight months ago no longer have the box. Tipping the chair to read the label under the seat is a reliable check, and it takes about a minute.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission says consumers will be given instructions on how to determine whether their backrests are included in the recall, and will be asked to submit photos of the manufacturer's label and the removed backrest to obtain a kit. Claims can be filed through the company's recall page or by emailing customer support.
That two-step verification means the process is slower than a simple return. It also means owners should not wait for a letter to arrive before checking the label themselves, since the company can only reach purchasers whose records it holds, and chairs bought through third-party retailers or received as gifts may fall outside that list.
A Detaching Backrest and the Injuries It Can Cause
A backrest that separates while someone is leaning against it produces a backward fall from seated height, usually without warning and usually with no time to brace.
The injuries associated with that mechanism are familiar to emergency departments. They include wrist and forearm fractures from an outstretched arm, tailbone and lower back injuries from landing on a hard floor, and head impact when the fall carries someone into a desk edge, a wall, or a filing cabinet.
Risk is not evenly distributed. Older adults, people with osteoporosis or reduced bone density, people taking anticoagulants, and anyone with balance problems or a prior fall history face worse outcomes from the same fall. Pregnancy raises the stakes as well.
Anyone who falls and strikes their head should be evaluated promptly, particularly if they take a blood thinner. Loss of consciousness, confusion, repeated vomiting, worsening headache, or difficulty using a limb after a fall are reasons to seek urgent care rather than waiting to see whether symptoms settle.
Home Offices Sit Outside Workplace Safety Rules
An office chair recall is easy to file under minor consumer news. The distribution pattern here suggests otherwise, because these chairs were sold online through direct-to-consumer and general merchandise channels, which points toward home offices and spare bedrooms as much as workplaces.
That location matters. A chair that fails in a corporate office generates an incident report, a safety review, and often an immediate removal of every identical unit in the building. A chair that fails in a spare bedroom generates none of that. There is no facilities team, no shared reporting channel, and no one else to notice that the same model is in use down the hall.
The practical consequence is that the person sitting in the chair is the entire safety system. Checking the label, filing the claim, and keeping the chair out of use in the meantime are steps nobody else will take.
Households that need a working chair while waiting for a kit should treat this as a temporary substitution problem rather than a reason to keep using the recalled unit. A dining chair is less comfortable and less adjustable, but its backrest is not the part under recall.
Anyone whose chair has already shown symptoms, including a backrest that wobbles, shifts, or makes noise under load, should stop using it immediately regardless of manufacture date and report the problem through SaferProducts.gov. Consumer reports are one of the main inputs that lead the agency to open an investigation in the first place, and 11 reports were enough to produce this action. Other current actions appear in the recalls index.
Key Questions Answered
Which chairs are recalled? Branch height-adjustable ergonomic chairs manufactured between September 10, 2025 and April 22, 2026, across 16 SKUs and eight color combinations, whose backrest anchors were incorrectly installed at the factory.
How do I check my chair? The manufacturing date is on a label underneath the seat cushion. The SKU appears on the side of the original packaging.
Where were they sold? Online at BranchFurniture.com, Amazon.com, WestElm.com, ContainerStore.com, OfficeDepot.com, and other sites from about December 2025 through July 2026, for $320 to $350.
Is there a refund? No. The remedy is a free repair kit containing a replacement backrest, three bolts, an Allen key, and instructions.
Have people been hurt? The company has received 11 reports of backrests detaching from the chairs. No injuries have been reported.
What should I do while waiting for the kit? Stop using the chair and substitute another seat. A backrest that already wobbles or shifts under load is a reason to stop immediately.
When should someone seek care after a fall from a chair? Loss of consciousness, confusion, repeated vomiting, a worsening headache, or trouble using a limb warrant urgent evaluation, especially for anyone taking a blood thinner.
