Comparison in definitions: Tested To, Complied To, Certified To, UL Certified

[Fire_Safety]

For reference for the Electric Bike Review community,

The link below from LinkedIn goes to the 2023 State of the Nation - US Product Recall Index. In it, there's an article regarding lithium battery operated products and is enough being done to keep consumers and the public safe. Please review at your convenience.

Ibrahim Jilani on LinkedIn: #weareulsolutions #productsafety #productrecall #righttorepair…

On March 1st, I was invited to provide insights into the 2023 State of the Nation - Product Safety and Recall published by Sedgwick. I want to thank Chris…

www.linkedin.com

Within that article, the following definitions are being provided to help stakeholders understand the difference between the four terms: Tested, Complied, Certified, and UL Certified. They mean different things.

• The term “tested to” a specific standard typically means a manufacturer or another entity in the supply chain has tested the product themselves or through a third-party laboratory that might be accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for testing. It is a self-declaration, not a third-party claim. In this case, it is almost certain the product has not complied with all of the requirements of the standard that are applicable since construction, design, material, and user manual requirements have not been evaluated. Simply stating that testing was done to a specific standard does not mean the product has met all the requirements of that standard.
• “Compliant with” a standard is another term that often means a product was self-evaluated and the manufacturer has determined that it complies with the full standard. It means no accredited third-party certification organization has reviewed the conformity of the lithium battery-operated product. Claims like this cannot be treated as impartial or reliable. Those must come from trusted organizations such as accredited ISO 17065 Certification Organizations or OSHA Nationally Recognized companies.
• If a company claims its product is “certified to” a certain standard, it usually means that the product has obtained third-party certification from a certification organization. The certification organization’s mark will also be on the product and/or packaging. For example, consumers can be sure they are buying a “UL Certified” product by looking up the item on UL Product iQ® and searching by manufacturer name and product model number. This publicly-accessible database of product safety certification records allows stakeholders and consumers to confirm that the product has met national safety standards by an independent and impartial organization that is trusted for public safety. This is the only place UL Certified products can be searched. If certified by another certification organization, then their database would be where to search.

I'm sharing this as a supplement to the post: https://electricbikereview.com/forums/threads/ul-certified-ebikes.44690/page-2#post-592355

Appreciate the chance to share how public safety is addressed through product safety!

Ibrahim

 

[revelpaul]

Thanks for posting this. The NYC law is somewhat ambiguous to me in terms of certified to/by/compliant with, etc.

It states: "1. The electrical system for such bicycle has been certified by an accredited testing laboratory for compliance with Underwriters Laboratories (UL) standard 2849, or such other safety standard as the department has established by rule in consultation with the fire department; "

I'm not a legal expert, but clearly it needs to be done by an accredited lab (presumably accredited by OSHA???). But the question is the "compliance with" part. That seems to imply that full UL certification is not need and that it only needs to be "tested to"... just as long as it's done at a legitimate lab. Perhaps a legal expert can chime in.

 

[Fire_Safety]

While the NYC law does not explicitly mention OSHA National Recognized Test Laboratories (NRTLs) with scope of recognition to UL 2849, UL 2272, and UL 2271, it does make a lot of sense these would be the approved certification organizations given the fact the US government has recognized some of them for 3rd party product safety certification to the specific standards mentioned in the NYC law.

For example here are the legal notices that UL Solutions is authorized. First one shows UL 2849 and UL 2272, the second one is UL 2271 along with many other standards we are approved for.

UL LLC: Grant of Expansion of Recognition | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.: Grant of Expansion of Recognition and Modification to the Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) Program's List of Appropriate Test Standards | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

The three standards from NYC law also shows up as well on OSHA’s NRTL website and the standards are found in the standards list for UL Solutions along with many others we are recognized for.

OSHA's Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) Program - UL | Occupational Safety and Health Administration

www.osha.gov

 

[Ravi Kempaiah]

f a company claims its product is “certified to” a certain standard, it usually means that the product has obtained third-party certification from a certification organization. The certification organization’s mark will also be on the product and/or packaging. For example, consumers can be sure they are buying a “UL Certified” product by looking up the item on UL Product iQ® and searching by manufacturer name and product model number. This publicly-accessible database of product safety certification records allows stakeholders and consumers to confirm that the product has met national safety standards by an independent and impartial organization that is trusted for public safety. This is the only place UL Certified products can be searched. If certified by another certification organization, then their database would be where to search.

It would be great to have a list of E-bike companies whose batteries are UL-certified by UL, not SGS or Intertek.

 

[Art Deco]

It would be great to have a list of E-bike companies whose batteries are UL-certified by UL, not SGS or Intertek.

An embarrassingly short list, I suspect.

 

[Fire_Safety]

Almost one year ago to the day @Art Deco was correct that there were less than a dozen companies who were UL Solutions e-Bike certified. That list is now 40+ companies. It has been a lot of work by the e-bike industry in the past year and very proud of the commitment all have had to ensure safe e-Bikes available to the market: https://productiq.ulprospector.com/en/search?term=qgns