What Is UL (Underwriters Laboratories)

What is UL

UL certification is an independent product-safety certificate that focuses on safety as its core remit. It sits among the most influential product-safety marks in the world. UL is a non-profit organisation that writes safety standards, runs product tests, and performs compliance reviews, with a heavy concentration of technical research on product-safety certification. It develops test procedures and standards for products, materials, components, tools, assemblies, and equipment.

UL dates back to 1894, when it began to focus on safety reviews in the electrical and electronic sectors. Within a few years, UL published its first safety standards. In 1905, the first UL mark was placed on a fire-extinguishing device, and since then the UL mark has become a reference for product safety, much as the TSE mark is in Turkey.

UL issues certification for products that meet the safety standards it has developed. Fire pumps, for example, carry UL recognition, and UL-recognised products carry the UL label. The European equivalent is the CE marking, although the CE marking is not independently certified by UL.

Each year UL reviews more than 19,000 products, materials, components, and system types, and the UL logo is placed on over 21 billion products from 71,000 manufacturers across global markets. UL employs around 6,200 people. It has issued 9,000 management-system registrations and carried out more than 12,000 assessments across 62 countries. UL's global network of affiliated firms and service providers operates 62 laboratories and test-and-certification facilities across six continents, supporting clients in commercial operation worldwide.

UL's business unit MSS (Management Systems Solutions), set up in 1989, operates with 240 staff and auditors and specialises in management-system certification worldwide.