Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory

Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory is the term used by the United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration to identify third-party organizations that have the necessary qualifications to perform safety testing and certification of products covered within OSHA and each organization's scopes. The testing and certification are conducted in accordance with U.S. consensus-based product safety test standards developed or issued by U.S. standards organizations

Description

The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that 38 different types of products, devices, assemblies, or systems used in the workplace be "approved" (i.e., tested and certified) by third-party organizations identified as Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories (NRTLs). As part of OSHA's NRTL Program, the recognition is to testing facilities acknowledging that the organizations have the necessary qualifications to perform safety testing and certification of specific products covered within their scopes to provide product safety testing and certification services to manufacturers for use of select types of products, devices, assemblies, or systems. The testing and certification are conducted in accordance with U.S. consensus-based product safety test standards. These test standards are not developed or issued by OSHA but by U.S. standards organizations (e.g., ANSI, the American National Standards Institute) arrived at by consensus amongst representatives of other standards organizations, government agencies, consumer groups, companies, and others. The range of products covered is limited to those items for which OSHA safety standards require "certification" by an NRTL.

Recognized agencies

OSHA, an agency of the United States Department of Labor, publishes a list of Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratories. The following are currently recognized by OSHA as NRTLs:

• Canadian Standards Association (CSA) (also known as CSA International)
• Communication Certification Laboratory, Inc. (CCL)
• Curtis-Straus LLC (CSL)
• FM Approvals LLC (FM) (formerly Factory Mutual Research Corporation)
• International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials EGS (IAPMO)
• Intertek Testing Services NA, Inc. (ITSNA) (formerly ETL)
• MET Laboratories, Inc. (MET)
• Nemko USA, Nemko North America, Inc.(NNA)
• NSF International (NSF)
• QAI Laboratories, LTD (QAI)
• QPS Evaluation Services, Inc. (QPS)
• SGS U.S. Testing Company, Inc. (SGSUS) (formerly UST-CA)
• Southwest Research Institute (SWRI)
• TUV Rheinland PTL, LLC (TÜVPTL)
• TUV SUD America (TÜVAM)
• TUV SUD Product Services GmbH (TÜVPSG)
• TUV Rheinland of North America (TÜV)
• Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL)

References