Listing and approval use and compliance

Listing and approval use and compliance is the activity of adhering to specific testing requirements designed to establish minimum performance for the installation or use of safety-related products and materials in conformance with an active certification listing or approval that has been issued by an organization that is accredited both for testing and product certification, such as those issued by Underwriters Laboratories, NTA Inc, FM Global, American Nuclear Insurers, or the Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik (DIBt). In concept, if a product, such as a fire door or a fire extinguisher, or a toaster is used in the intended manner the use of the component or system will perform as described in the listing and/or approval. The listing or test is often cited by a regulation, such as a building code or a fire code, and becomes enforcable through adopted codes or regulations. This concept is known as bounding in the nuclear industry. Products whose use is not mandated by any building codes or fire codes often lack a consensus test method. Unless there is a test standard in existence to prove the functionality and reliability of such a product, there can be no certification listing. Many authorities are charged to review and approve results from qualified testing agencies, when for the purpose intended, the evidence shows compliance for a material, product or construction method that provides equivalent strength, quality, fire resistance, durability and safety when evaluated through general engineering practices.

National, governmental accreditors, such as Germany's Deutsches Institut für Bautechnik or Canada's SCC (Standards Council of Canada) can "accredit" laboratories, meaning that such laboratories must conform to national standards and rules of conduct in the discharge of their duties. Compliance is routinely tested by the accreditor through inspections, where random client files are audited to see that the laboratory followed all appropriate procedures. Accreditors can accredit laboratories for testing, as well as for product certification. In product certification regimes, the laboratory or the accreditor (as in the case of Germany) become involved in witnessing the production of test materials, get copies of process standards, including chemical formulas and all details necessary to manufacture a product. Once the test product is made, it is shipped "under seal" to the laboratory for incorporation in the test. Certification listings or approvals that follow a successful test are subject to the maintenance of continuous factory auditing to make sure that what was tested is identical to that which was made, or documented proof that the products made continue to meet quality control standards set out as a function of the approvals process.

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