Three new marks to clearly identify products that are tested to perform as required in security and signaling environments have been developed by Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), Northbrook, Ill.

The new marks signify that products have been specifically evaluated and tested to UL requirements for signaling and security applications. UL security and signaling customers will be required to implement these marks by May 1, 2007.

The three new marks are:

  • Signaling mark, which applies to products such as fire and life safety alarms. Typical products in this category are smoke detectors, fire alarms and hospital nurse call systems.
  • Security mark, which applies to products such as intrusion detectors, burglar alarms, access controls, anti-theft alarms, surveillance systems, safes and vaults.
  • Combination security and signaling mark, which applies to products that serve security and signaling functions. A typical example is a combination fire and burglar alarm system.

    UL’s performance tests for security and signaling products varies significantly by product type and individual standard. The purpose of the tests is to verify performance under many of the conditions that security and signaling products encounter during normal use.

These include supervisory tests – whether it can alert an appropriate authority if it is unable to function; temperature and atmospheric conditions; radio and electronic interference; dust, corrosion, physical changes, other natural environmental hazards; and component life cycle testing.