On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 10:25:11 -0700, Bob Axtell wrote:
> Been there, done that, bought the T-shirt.
>
> UL's purpose is safety, and they are only interested in whether
> a product will be a fire hazard (primarily) or a safety hazard
> (shock, etc). They will test the overall safety of the product,
> with little interest in how it is fabricated, outside of flammability.
>
> As incredible as it sounds, UL doesn't even care if the product actually
> does what it claims, although CE has some operational standards, such as
> static protection.

That isn't entirely true. UL has many standards and classifications of
products. One of my main clients manufactures fire suppression systems
and I design the control panels for them. We must meet UL864 which not
only specifies electrical safety testing but also *operational* testing.
They literally go through the user manual and test everything with real
input and output devices, check backup battery run time, check for
compliance with NFPA72 operational specifications and many many other
operational tests.

Another category of products they test functionality of is safes (both
with and without fire ratings). I've actually watched them do 100 ft.
drop tests from their in-house drop tower and oxy-torch wielding
technician break-in tests. Cool stuff.

I'm sure there are others, but these are two I know of for sure. It
really depends whether you are going for basic electrical safety
testing or whether you have a product that has to meet a more stringent
listing which includes operational testing.

Matt Pobursky
Maximum Performance Systems

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