The UAE-based building assembly testing laboratory, Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants, announced today that it has been qualified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL) as a subcontractor laboratory for fire testing of fire rated doors and dampers according to UL standards.

“Manufacturers seeking UL approval for such products can now have the testing performed locally in Dubai, instead of sending them to UL’s Northbrook, Illinois testing facility or another UL subcontractor laboratory abroad. UL manages the entire testing and certification process through one of their local India or Middle East offices which can be found on www. UL.com. Certification based on testing, is a requirement for obtaining Product Approval from the Civil Defence in the UAE and other jurisdictions,” said Tom Bell-Wright, founder and CEO of Thomas Bell-Wright International Consultants, “and we are glad now to be able to provide local support for those companies and organizations that require UL certification.” 

Established in the US in 1894, UL is a global independent safety science company offering expertise across five key strategic businesses including product safety. Globally, manufacturers now produce over 66,000 different UL certified products and the UL symbol appears on more than 20 billion products. 

“Under a system called ‘Accreditation’, laboratories are required to operate a quality management system in accordance with the ISO 17025 standard (similar to ISO 9000 for manufacturers). The standard regulates control of documents, procedures, calibrations, internal audits, records, reports and so on. We are accredited by UKAS to conduct fire testing under approximately 25 international standards.