Once the 1936 standard was created, the NFPA stated that, “…an OSHA approved (29 CFR 1910.7) National Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) must be used to demonstrate NFPA 1936 compliancy.” In other words, NFPA said we will make the criteria for the tests, and the rescue tool manufacturers must pay an NRTL to test their respective tools to those criteria. Most manufacturers will state that a tool must be UL listed to be NFPA compliant. This is NOT true. UL or Underwriters Laboratories is a PRIVATE company (not a government agency), that is paid to conduct tests on a 3rd party basis. They are an OSHA approved NRTL, which means they can be used to test rescue tools to the NFPA’s standards. There are seven recognized NRTL’s in the United States, and UL is one of them. Genesis Rescue tools are tested by the TUV group. TUV is one of the 7 OSHA approved NRTL’s in the United States. The company is based in Germany, but is recognized around the entire world as the largest and most respected 3rd party testing group. The main reason we used TUV is because of this very fact. Genesis tools are sold around the world, and UL is mainly recognized in the U.S. Therefore, we couldn’t use UL as it is not known as well as TUV, worldwide. For a quick comparison of UL to TUV, go to:
