How does a product's UL listing benefit that product's manufacturer?

[olpeculiar]

I am a UL-1598 design engineer for a small OEM lighting fixture company in the USA. I am having a hard time convincing my (somewhat short-sighted) superiors of the importance of proper UL compliance. Please, help me make my case with them:

How does proper UL listing for our products benefit us, the manufacturer?

I know UL is *only* a private inspection outfit, and they have no official authority concerning US laws and lawsuits. But in a more general sense, is the manufacturer's liability limited with a UL listed product, in the unfortunate event of a catastrophic failure (fire, etc...)? Does the UL listing act as a type of insurance policy - not only for the consumer, but for the manufacturer as well? Are there other such tangible benefits? I'm just looking for ways to convince others in my company that the little nit-picky minutiae of UL standards that I concern myself with are worth worrying about.

Thanks for any help or insights (or just sympathy!) that anyone can provide...

 

[alexit]

If company is ISO9000 certified they must understand UL is like this, good to have but better to not need in first place.

I recently installed machine tool equipment in large USA aircraft manufacturer. There were issues with the OSHA guys and Union bosses because our equipment is Swiss not USA so as to require all equipment be UL approved. Fortunately the plant bosses knew of this and arranged for on-site inspection to meet UL codes.

Sell them as the outside inspectors will make everyone clean up work areas 1x 2x 4x per year, not that you get 1000x more customers

 

[aamoroso]

I look at it this way. From a liability standpoint you can at least say you took all measures possible to meet and/or exceed industry standards and obtained third part verification of your product. Otherwise you can only say, well we thought it was good enough.

Fill what's empty. Empty what's full. And scratch where it itches.

 

[stephenweinstein]

In many cases, retailers, local electrical codes, or OSHA require testing by a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) to the UL standard and listing by the NRTL that did the testing. However, I do not know of any that explicitly require listing by UL. Listing by ETL (

http://www.intertek-etlsemko.com)

or another NRTL using UL standards is usually also allowed.

 

[buzzp]

Besides showing due diligence in the event of a lawsuit your customer may enjoy some variances by the AHJ (authority having jurisdiction) if the UL label is not on the equipment. As a result, many companies REQUIRE this even though it is legal not to have it.

Yes UL is overpriced with extensive lead times but there are other test houses who can give you the UL mark (CSA can even do it). UL just has to review their test report.

 

[dpc]

Actually, unless your product has UL label, it is unlikely that anyone will actually be able to install them in many parts of the US. In many areas, electrical inspectors would reject ANY light fixture without a UL label. Certainly no registered engineer would ever specify a non-UL fixture unless it was so unique that no other similar fixture with UL labeling existed.

I can't imagine trying to market a luminaire in the US that was not UL-labeled. Seems like a complete non-starter to me.