NRTL: Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory.
A laboratory accredited by
OSHA
(Occupational Safety & Health Administration)
allowing the laboratory to test and certify
products in the United States.
Certification Body: A Laboratory Accredited
by the Standards
Council of Canada. Certification Bodies
can certify products intended for market in
Canada.
Conditions
of Acceptability (CoA): The CoAs form
part of a recognized component’s certification
report. The CoAs include the scope of the
certification, any assumptions that we made
as part of the component certification, as
well as any considerations that need to be
considered in the end product investigation.
The CoAs can be obtained directly from the
component manufacturer.
Recognized Component: A component that has
been tested in accordance with an end product
safety standard, however it may be incomplete
in construction or restricted in performance
capabilities. Examples of recognized components
include, but is certainly not limited to:
Open frame power supplies, DC-DC Converters,
Appliance inlets, Transformers, and EMI filters.
Recognized components are typically identified
by a backwards “UR” mark.
| The
Safety Cerification Process... What should
I Expect? |
Compliance Investigation:
The compliance Invesigation typically begins
with a constructional review of your product
against the applicable product safety standards.
The constructional review is generally non-destructive.
Typical issues covered include, but are not
limited to: warnings/markings, electrical
ratings, openings in the enclosure, isolation
to hazardous parts (mechanical & electrical),
suitability of components and materials and
flammability ratings of polymeric materials.
Following a complete review of the standard,
the product is moved into the testing phase.
Typical testing includes, but is not limited
to: current/power measurement, temperature
testing, abnormal operations (component faults,
reduced ventilation and the like), Dielectric
Strength (Hi-Pot) testing, and mechanical
strength and stability testing. If the constructional
review and testing are found to be fully compliant,
a letter of authorization to apply the MET
Certification mark to the product (for North
American Certications) is provided. For international
markets, a letter stating that the evaluated
product was found to be compliant is provided.
Certification reports follow shortly thereafter.
If there are unresolved non-compliances, a
findings report is issued.
Findings Report:
The Findings Report summarizes all evaluation
and testing that has been conducted on your
product. Any questions, requests for information
or non compliances are provided to you in
a clear and concise format with a summary
of the clause requirement, the conditions
noted, and the required response to resolve
the issue.
Final Report:
The final certification reports are continually
being worked on throughout the certification
process. Depending on the markets that you
are pursuing, you will receive one or more
certification reports at the conclusion of
the project. For US and Canadian certifications
the final reports are used by MET’s
Factory Inspectors to verify continuing compliance
of your product during their ongoing factory
inspections. For International markets, you
can use the reports to support your Self Declaration
of compliance (European Union), or for submittal
to a National Certification Body for approval
under the CB Scheme.
For more information
on the Safety Certification Process, read
this
Article, written by MET Laboratories,
published in the July/August 2002 issue of
Compliance Engineering Magazine
How Long will the process
take?
Duration is dependent on the product category,
and the overall readiness of the submittal.
In many cases the process can be expedited
if a shorter completion time is desired. Please
note that non-compliance findings, test failures,
or other unexpected delays beyond our control
may jeopardize the completion date. To minimize
delays, be sure to submit all information
of the Product
Submittal Checklist. Contact your Account
Manager for more details on completion times,
and expedited scheduling.
What holds MET to a timeline?
Our clients do. At various stages throughout
the project, you are contacted, informing
you of the status of the project, and what
issues, if any, exist. Additionally, all MET
clients are given access to our proprietary,
online project tracking software, METrak.
With this software, you will be able to log
on to a secure internet site, 24 hours a day,
7 days a week to see in real-time, the status
of your project, and as well various communications
that occur internal of MET relative to your
project. Communication is the key to keeping
a project moving smoothly, and METrak
is a great way for us to keep our clients
informed. As long as you communicate with
your account manager and your assigned engineer,
responding to questions or requests for additional
information as quickly as possible, the project
will keep moving forward.
