A
non-profit company that tests
products for
safety and
certifies products that pass. You've probably seen their
mark near the
serial number of your electronic products, the U and L, with the L a little lower, inside a
circle.
Some statistics, according to their
website,
www.ul.com:
- Estimated UL Marks appearing on new products in 1999: 16.1 billion
- Product evaluations in 1999: 94,396
- Follow-up Service visits in 1999 to audit compliance with product certification requirements: 509,442
- Consumers UL reached with safety messages in the U.S. and Canada during 1999: 110 million
- Total number of current UL Standards: 748
- Countries with UL customers: 89
- Staff of the UL family of companies ready to serve customers: 5,644
- UL Inspection Centers: 193 in 71 countries
- Laboratory testing and certification facilities in the UL family of companies: 46
- Number of product types UL evaluates: 18,059
- Total number of facilities registered by UL to a management system standard as of Dec. 31, 1999: 4,089
- Number of manufacturers producing UL certified products: 58,684
(note the irony that I used the
<ul> tag here)