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What Keeps Us Safe?

Mark Thornton

Look at the back of your computer monitor, the bottom of your tablelamp, or the label on your hair dryer. Chances are you will see thesymbol "UL" with a circle around it. It stands for UnderwritersLaboratories, a firm headquartered in orthbrook, Ill., and an unsun!hero of the market economy.

Most people dont reali#e that do#ens of products in their homes$$toasters, fire e%tin!uishers, space heaters, tele&isions, etc.$$ha&e beentested by the Underwriters Lab for safety. The Lab also tests items like

bulletproof &ests, electric blankets, commercial ice cream machines, andchicken de$beakers, amon! thousands of other products.

'ut the Lab isnt an arm of the !o&ernment. It is pri&ately owned,financed, and operated. o one is compelled by force of law to use itsser&ices. It thri&es, and makes our li&es safer, by the power of itse%cellent reputation. (or that reason, its ideolo!ically dri&en enemies onthe left despise it.

The firm was formed in )*+ to deal with the dan!ers posed by the

dramatic increase in the use of electricity. Today, it employs ,---scientists, en!ineers, and safety specialists to render an independent

&erdict on hundreds of thousands of products.

The &ery e%istence of the Lab debunks the common ci&ics$te%t &iew thatwithout !o&ernment inter&ention, pri&ate businesses would seek profitwithout re!ard for safety. Thus, bureaucrats ha&e to police markets toimpose a balance between pri&ate interests and the common !ood. The!o&ernment, then, is the only thin! standin! between us and unceasin!fatal accidents.

The truth is the opposite. The market is well equipped to re!ulate itself,and does a fine ob of it. Its the !o&ernment that operates withouto&ersi!ht. To disco&er the quality and &alue of products, no one wouldtrust the ad&ice of the scandal$ridden Commerce /epartment or the(ederal Trade Commission.

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Unlike quality and price, safety isnt always at the forefront of theconsumers mind. 'ut that hasnt kept manufacturers from seekin! outthe Labs testin! ser&ices. (or those who appreciate the &irtues of pri&ateenterprise, the UL insi!nia is an inspiration.

The Lab was the first to set standards for certifyin! the safety of pilotsand planes before the !o&ernment inter&ened. It set the standards for

buildin! materials, fire fi!htin! equipment, air conditioners, andhousehold chemicals. It employs safecrackers and pyrotechnicians totest safes, and a &ariety of unique machines and de&ices to testthousands of other products each year. It has been testin! multicoloredChristmas li!hts since )+-0, and entered the buildin! code businessri!ht after the )+-1 2an (rancisco earthquake.

/espite its unparalleled e%perience and success, the market economy

keeps the Lab inno&atin!. 3s en!ineer 4ohn /ren!enber! of the Labsaid, "Theres always some little twist in a new product$$an inno&ati&efeature or somethin! to make it cheaper$$to keep us busy de&elopin! theappropriate test procedure."

Its effecti&eness in determinin! safety standards 5e&en for brand$newproducts6 and maintainin! them o&er time has !enerated an interestin!result. Many !o&ernment re!ulations, especially at the state le&el,merely mimic the buildin! codes and insurance requirements of the Lab.

The Lab also "re!ulates" in a cost$effecti&e way. Companies come to theLab to present their products and the tests they ha&e already conducted.The company pays a testin! fee ran!in! from a couple of hundreddollars to se&eral thousand, dependin! on the costs of the tests to beconducted.

If the product passes, it recei&es one of three desi!nations. To be "listed"means that the product has passed muster for sale as a final product,like a hair dryer. If it is listed as "reco!ni#ed," it is safe to use as acomponent within the final product, like a transformer. To be "certified"means that the product has met someone elses standards, such as theChica!o buildin! code.

7ach product is tested for each use, and the Lab is strict about how itsmark is used by manufacturers. (or e%ample, 2ecuritron Ma!nalock senta new lock to the Lab for testin!. ew standards had to be established,

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and the lock was duly tested and "reco!ni#ed" as a component for adelayed e%it system.

8hen the company fa%ed all of its field representati&es that the productwas "UL appro&ed," Lab officials suspended the listin!. It then required

2ecuritron to inform all employees that UL does not "appro&e" anyproduct.

To insure continued safety, manufacturers a!ree to let the Lab inspecttheir production facilities and to retest on demand. These on$siteinspections, often four a year, are unannounced. Lab inspectors canrequire manufacturers to present data and to rerun safety trials ande%periments. Companies, in turn, pay a tiny fee for e&ery UL desi!nationsymbol they put on their products.

Manufacturers can modify their products to adapt to market conditions,but the Lab o&ersees chan!es that affect product safety. The Lab isinfle%ible and scientific, but its also dri&en by common sense andrealism.

othin! is perfectly safe, of course. The competiti&e marketplace andthe Lab aim for safety in a framework of rational attention to costs. ULofficial /ren!enber! has noted that "It would be &ery easy for us to comeup with an o&erly strict standard," but then no one could afford to buythe product.

In fact, the Lab once built a fireproof office for some of its employees.The e%pensi&e room featured ceramic tile on the walls and ceilin!, athick concrete floor, metal furniture, and similar standards. ot only

was the cost hi!h, the esthetic results were not impressi&e. 3s 9obert:ereance, author of 7lectrical (ire 3nalysis says, "most of us cannotafford a fireproof dwellin! and would not like li&in! in it if we could."

The Lab notes that *-; of accidents and fires are caused by consumers,not products. It takes this into account in its requirements. In the case ofspace heaters, for e%ample, the Lab felt that enhanced warnin! labels

would reduce as many fires as an e%pensi&e redesi!n, thus keepin! downcost and price.

Compare this approach with the !o&ernments. Its standards are asdifficult to understand as they are contradictory. 'ut its uncertainstandards contrast with its hard$ed!ed enforcement and o&ersi!ht. 8ith

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the !o&ernment, products that meet the standards dont ha&e to be safe,while perfectly safe products can fail to pass the re!ulations.

The Lab is not perfect, and, in a few cases, it has paid dama!es for itsmistakes. 'ut the failures ha&e been few and far between. 4ust last year,

it tested more than )1,0-- types of products, nearly *-,--- differentproducts, conducted on!oin! on$site inspections, and placed the ULsymbol on nearly nine billion products.

The Lab has its critics, of course. (or e%ample, 2tuart 2tatler of the TrialLawyers of 3merica calls the Lab "totally dri&en by industry money."

8hereas they should be dri&en by trial$lawyer money< "Consumerad&ocate" 9alph ader claims that the Lab is a "&ery meek, lowestcommon denominator type operation." In short, it doesnt imposeunreasonable burdens on the market, bankrupt companies, or harm

consumers.

Most recently, the ew :ork Times accused the Lab of lettin! down its!uard and conspirin! with manufacturers. The contro&ersy surroundsthe Labs listin! of a new => twister cap that connects copper andaluminum wires. 8hen copper was relati&ely e%pensi&e, houses were

wired with aluminum. 3fter lon! use, howe&er, it has pro&en more of afire ha#ard. (ull rewirin! is e%pensi&e, so the inno&ati&e caps allowhomeowners an intermediate solution.

'ut for bureaucrats and left$win! ideolo!ues, no pri&ate solution ispraiseworthy. The Timess 'arry Meier writes that the Lab is "sparrin!

with (ederal officials in a behind$the$scenes battle" that is "e%posin!some potential shortcomin!s of industry self$re!ulation." The hope ofthose who oppose the twister cap is that the !o&ernment will refuse toappro&e it for use. ?eople will ha&e to use old aluminum wires or theold, unsafe cap. In either case, the fire ha#ard will remain hi!her.

2uch are the consequences of sidin! with !o&ernment o&er pri&atestandards. 3fter a century of public ser&ice, Underwriters Laboratorieshas pro&en a safe, effecti&e, and cost$conscious alternati&e to!o&ernment bureaucracy. It shows us that the market disco&ers new andeffecti&e solutions to the problems of e&eryday life, reduces the risks allaround us, and does it without resortin! to the coercion and inefficiencyof !o&ernment.