News from Surge Suppression Incorporated

IN REVIEW:

With specific regard to Surge Protective Device Certification/Listing, the industry is beginning to see various NRTL certification bodies providing the listing service. Most prevalent are Underwriters Laboratories, Inc. (UL), TUV, MET, ETL and CSA. Of these, it is becoming apparent that UL and CSA are the most widely accepted with ETL catching on quickly. One question that may be asked is, "if all of these organizations are NRTL certified, does that mean they are all the same"?

It is interesting to note that there are only a few test laboratories that are OSHA NRTL laboratories. The current list of Nationally Recognized Test Laboratories (NRTLs) is as follows:

Canadian Standards Association (CSA, also known as CSA International)
Communication Certification Laboratory, Inc. (CCL)
Curtis-Straus LLC (CSL)
FM Approvals LLC (FM, formerly Factory Mutual Research Corporation)
Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. (ITSNA, formerly ETL)
MET Laboratories, Inc. (MET)
NSF International (NSF)
National Technical Systems, Inc. (NTS)
SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc. (SGSUS, formerly UST-CA)
Southwest Research Institute (SWRI)
TUV America, Inc. (TUVAM)
TUV Product Services GmbH (TUVPSG)
TUV Rheinland of North America, Inc. (TUV)
Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL)
Wyle Laboratories, Inc. (WL)

According to OSHA: Given that each NRTL has met the same requirements for recognition, OSHA considers NRTLs recognized for the same product safety test standard to be equivalent in their capability to certify to that standard. For example, any NRTL recognized for ANSI Z21.16, a test standard for gas unit heaters, can certify such units for a manufacturer. However, even if recognized for the same test standards, each organization has different abilities depending on its experience, personnel, facilities and equipment, testing methods, and other aspects of its operations for testing and certifying products. OSHA only recognizes organizations as NRTLs and, under its regulations, cannot dictate how an NRTL must operate. An organization decides the detailed aspects of its own NRTL operations, although OSHA has some general policies with which NRTLs must comply.

The end result is that while the organizations may vary in there method of business operations, they are required to provide testing in strict compliance with the applicable standards - in this case, UL 1449 2nd Edition and ANSI/UL 1449-2006. Thus, UL and CSA are equivalent marks and carry the same weight.

According to the NEC, Surge Protective Devices must be "Listed". The NEC does not require that the "listing" is provided by UL. The definition of Listed Equipment is provided below:

Article 100 I. General of the 2008 NEC defines Listed as:

Listed - Equipment, materials, or services included in a list published by an organization that is acceptable to the authority having jurisdiction and concerned with evaluation of products or services, that maintains periodic inspection of production of listed equipment or materials or periodic evaluation of services, and whose listing states that either the equipment, material, or service meets appropriate designated standards or has been tested and found suitable for a specified purpose.

FPN - The means for identifying listed equipment may vary for each organization concerned with product evaluation, some of which do not recognize equipment as listed unless it is also labeled. Use of the system employed by the listing organization allows the authority having jurisdiction to identify a listed product.

The key to understanding this is that the SPD is listed to the appropriate designated standard. As long as the organization providing the listing or certification is an NRTL, it is deemed acceptable.