About Us

Throughout the 1930s, UL demonstrates its commitment to consumer safety through the certification of early model consumer electronics still commonly used today. Products include electric dishwashers, automatic washing machines, black-and-white television sets and vending machines.
Many of these products are covered by UL 73, the Standard for Motor-Operated Appliances, first published in 1937.

During World War II, UL is classified as a critical organization and tests devices to protect against the sabotage of U.S. plants producing or storing materials important to the war program. Women begin filling a number of roles at UL to replace male employees serving in the military. Safety standards are revised to allow temporary changes to requirements and address the shortage of critical materials needed for World War II.

UL begins using new, high-visibility tactics to deliver safety awareness campaigns directly to the public in step with the rise of consumerism. These include the production of films such as Approved by the Underwriters and Danger Sleuths, each screened thousands of times across the U.S. in schools and theaters. The company also significantly increases its television appearances and outreach to mass media.

Today, safety advocacy remains a core function at ULSE. We approach hazards by identifying consumer awareness and perceptions to support policies and campaigns to address the gaps and advancing standards as part of the solution.

Enjoy this brief video clip from Danger Sleuths.

The publication of UL 859, Household Electric Personal Grooming Appliances, helps assure the safety of consumers using covered products including hair dryers and curlers.

The first edition of UL 1123, Standard for Marine Buoyant Devices, was published. Beginning in 1972, the U.S. Coast Guard recognized UL as the official testing agency for PFDs.

UL 943, the Standard for Safety for Ground-Fault Circuit-Interrupters, was published to help mitigate shock hazards. GFCI devices are designed to trip quickly to stop the flow of electrical current in the event of a ground-fault.

GFCI protection is required in the National Electrical Code for all outdoor outlets as well as those installed in bathrooms and along kitchen countertops, as well as within six feet of any bathtub, sink, or shower.

UL 325, Standard for Safety for Door, Drapery, Gate, Louver, and Window Operators and Systems was published for the first time. Products covered by UL 325 include automatic garage door openers.

In 1991, the standard was updated to include dual entrapment protection requirements intended to mitigate entrapments, injuries, and deaths from crushing or pinching by stopping and reversing if impeded.

A ULSE impact analysis published in 2023 found these threats were significantly diminished following publication of the dual entrapment protection requirements.

ULSE first published UL 217, Standard for Smoke Alarms, in 1976 to cover in-home devices.

A public service announcement from this era suggested that, “someday, smoke detectors may become as common a fixture in the home as the thermostat.”

In 2022, UL 217 was updated to include requirements for technology to discern between nuisance alarms – such as from cooking – versus house fires to mitigate the potential for consumers to remove the batteries from smoke alarms and silence the devices during a nuisance alarm.

The Standard for Telephone Equipment – UL 1459 – is UL’s 500th standard to be published.

UL issues the first edition of the Standard for Safety for Recycling Systems that clean and save CF-based refrigerants used in automobile air conditioning systems.

UL uses holographic labels to mitigate counterfeiting of the UL Mark. The move is intended to prevent untested and uncertified products from reaching the marketplace, where a failure to operate safely or properly could be hazardous for consumers. Three years later, UL establishes a full-fledged anti-counterfeiting program in conjunction with U.S. Customs and Border Protection that results in the seizure of approximately 1.8 million products bearing counterfeit UL Marks. The retail value of these items—which includes holiday light strings, electric fans, extension cords, light fixtures and computer power supplies—exceeds $15 million.

Today, ULSE’s anti-counterfeiting program partners with INTERPOL and other law enforcement agencies from around the world to advance the fight against counterfeit products and to support education initiatives about the risks and hazards of counterfeits.

UL 2231-1 and UL 2231-2 are published, covering EV components and systems to reduce the risk of electric shock. At the time, automakers in the United States were just beginning to introduce EVs to their production lines. Since then, the number of EVs in use has grown exponentially.

EV technology has continued to evolve, and we maintained a consistent focus on safety for these products every step of the way – publishing and updating standards regularly to help guide the safe development of this technology.

UL celebrates its 100th anniversary of standards development

UL introduces a new set of requirements for indoor/outdoor cord sets for electric vehicles, helping manufacturers produce safer, more efficient electric vehicles.

Unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, are changing the way we interact with the world.

UL 3030 addresses electrical system requirements for UAVs operated by trained pilots. The standard covers commercial (e.g. agricultural, scientific, research, video for film industry or news broadcasts and roof inspections) and tactical (e.g. government, local police and search & rescue) applications.

UL 2904, Standard Method for Testing and Assessing Particle and Chemical Emissions from 3D Printers, presents methodologies for characterizing and quantifying particles and VOC emissions from 3D printers operating under normal conditions in certain indoor environments such as classrooms, offices, libraries, residential settings, and other spaces.

The standard requires testing for each 3D printer with a variety of commercially available filament material (feedstock) and establishes emissions criteria for particles and certain chemicals for the management of airborne gaseous and aerosol pollutants.

Through ULSE’s Thermal Runaway Incident Program, we collaborate with the airline industry to closely examine data on lithium battery incidents and better understand the scale and complexity of this growing aviation safety issue.

Developed with — and for — airline industry dangerous goods professionals, TRIP is a secure, voluntary system collecting information about aviation-related lithium battery incidents.

Leading passenger airlines and cargo carriers participate in TRIP, voluntarily reporting incidents to the TRIP database and participating in program summits to solve for risk.

The first edition of ANSI/UL 4600, Standard for Safety for the Evaluation of Autonomous Products, was published to cover autonomous vehicle technology.

The standard uses a safety case approach to address principles and processes for evaluating fully autonomous products requiring no human driver supervision.

The third edition of UL 4600, published in 2023, expanded the scope to include autonomous trucking.

In February 2020, UL Standards & Engagement received authorization from Mexico’s Dirección General de Normas of the Ministry of Economy to develop national standards for Mexico.

The authorization established ULSE as the first foreign standards development organization authorized to develop standards for Mexico and the only SDO able to develop national standards for all three countries in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

UL Standards & Engagement was approached by representatives of the aviation industry to develop a safety standard for containment products intended to inhibit the spread of smoke and flames from lithium-ion battery-powered devices that have entered thermal runaway.

In-scope containment products are intended for use by authorized personnel on commercial, private and military aviation in the passenger cabin or cockpit for portable electronic devices such as cellphones, tablets and laptops that are overheating.

The nonprofit organization Underwriters Laboratories announces the commitment of $1.8 billion to address increasingly complex public safety risks and strengthen the impact of its safety science mission.

The organization also restructures, launching a new, second nonprofit organization to advance standards development and publich advocacy activities.

This Standards and Engagement organization was the initiation of what would later be known as UL Standards & Engagement.

In May 2022, Dr. David Steel is hired as the first Executive Director of UL’s Standards and Engagement organization.

Over the next two years, Dr. Steel would go on to build the organization’s engagement functions and lead its advancement of standards for sustainability as well as new and evolving technologies such as lithium-ion battery safety, e-mobility, and autonomous products.

In June 2022, the UL enterprise reveals new brands for its three organizations — UL Research Institutes, UL Standards & Engagement and UL Solutions. The brands reflect and clarify the unique role that each organization plays in working for a safer world.

UL Research Institutes is a nonprofit research organization dedicated to advancing the Underwriters Laboratories public safety mission through scientific discovery and application.

UL Standards & Engagement is launched as a nonprofit standards development and advocacy organization that translates scientific data into practical, action-oriented safety standards.

On March 20, 2023, a New York City law is signed which requires all e-mobility devices sold, rented, or leased in the city to be tested and certified to three ULSE standards as applicable: UL 2849, the Standard for Electrical Systems for e-Bikes; UL 2272, the Standard for Electrical Systems for Personal E-Mobility Devices; and UL 2271, the Standard for Batteries for Use In Light Electric Vehicle Applications.

UL Standards & Engagement applauds New York in addressing the urgent issue of e-bike fires and setting an example for governments around the world.

UL Standards & Engagement publisheds ANSI/UL 3600, the Standard for Measuring and Reporting Circular Economy Aspects of Products, Sites and Organizations.

The standard provides requirements that cover the methods and metrics for measuring aspects of a company’s sustainability efforts, specifically those related to circular economy, such as eliminating waste, reusing materials, and regenerating natural resources.

The standard helps improve consumer confidence and trust in a company’s sustainability claims by outlining a report format allowing companies to share its performance levels in a clear and consistent manner.

ULSE publishes revisions to UL 4200A, Standard for Products Incorporating Button Batteries or Coin Cell Batteries, to strengthen protections against harm — particularly among children—from accidental ingestion of button batteries or coin cell batteries, particularly for young children.

The revisions were made to align with Reese’s Law — U.S. legislation that directed the Consumer Product Safety Commission to strengthen protections for young children who may come into contact with these batteries. Compliance with the law was achieved in 2023 when CPSC made UL 4200A mandatory for consumer products that contain them.

UL Standards & Engagement announced Jeff Marootian as its new president and CEO effective February 3, 2025.

Marootian brings more than two decades’ experience leading initiatives in energy, transportation, and sustainability that will inform and enhance ULSE’s work as a safety advocacy organization.