The COVID-19 pandemic presents numerous unprecedented challenges to the monitoring industry and those with a stake in the protection services it provides. Not the least of these is operating in a regulated environment, under standards that did not fully anticipate the impact of public health mitigations. Underwriters Laboratories and its service delivery unit, UL LLC, are (in a position to/humbled by the opportunity to?) support all stakeholders on issues related to standards and compliance certification as we navigate this “new normal.”.
When COVID-19 first began to spread in North America, social distancing mitigations presented an immediate conflict with UL requirements. Monitoring station operation room designs that complied with UL/ULC technical requirements were not large enough to allow alarm response agents to social distance. As a result, Aagents had to be redeployed elsewhere, and their own homes was an immediate opportunity.