NRTL NKOTB gaining momentum... watch out U.L. and FM
By Daniel Gelinas
Updated Wed September 30, 2009
I couldn't resist the turgid headline. As you may (or may not) recall from my first blog post, I'm fond of TLAs (or four- and five- letter acronyms, too, as the case may be).
I just received a release from Mace Security International declaring its recently acquired monitoring center Mace CSSS had earned ETL Listing. Intertek/ETL, you'll recall from my cohort, Martha's, recent story is gaining in acceptance as an alternative to the other two main Nationally Recognized Training Labs, Underwriters Laboratories and Factory Mutual.
Here's some of the release from Mace:
Mace Monitoring Center becomes one of the first U.S. central stations to earn the ETL Listing Mace Security International, Inc. ("Mace" or the “Company”) (Nasdaq Global:MACE) today announced that its subsidiary , Mace CSSS,Inc. has earned the ETL listing by Intertek, a testing laboratory recognized by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). The ETL listing indicates that Mace CSSS has been investigated and found to be in effective compliance with rigorous operational and safety standards and is eligible to use the ETL mark. This certification assures customers that their alarm monitoring center is maintained and tested annually by a nationally recognized testing laboratory to ensure full compliance with all federal, national, and local standard and codes.It's nice that centrals now have more choice when it comes to NRTLs. Peter P. Giacalone, the recently hired president of Mace Security Services, said the listing was more proof of Mace's dedication to excellence. “We continue to strive to achieve the highest quality standards in the central station monitoring business," Giacalone said in the release. "The ETL listing combined with our UL standards listing places Mace CSSS on a standards level that only a handful of alarm monitoring companies have obtained.” In Martha's story from the October issue of SSN, CSAA officials said they expected members to vote for accepting listing from ETL. I emailed CSAA's VP marketing and programs Celia Besore to get a sense of how the voting was going, and she had this to say:
CSAA members will submit the final votes on the CSAA by-laws change at the Annual Meeting in few weeks. Some have submitted their votes by paper ballot, but the voting is not complete. The by-laws change will allow companies certified by any CSAA-approved Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) to apply for CSAA membership. The only two NRTLs that are CSAA-approved currently are UL and FM. If and when the by-laws change occurs, a CSAA committee will review any NRTL applications to see which additional NRTLs to approve.Sounds like U.L. and FM might have to make room.
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