UL accreditation for firestop companies requires passing a monitored exam, developing an approved management system manual, and passing an on-site audit. It signals serious commitment to life-safety systems and assures clients that firestops will perform as intended during a fire.
Beyond becoming UL accredited, first of all, is a very big accomplishment. UL accredited firestop companies have proven that they have a high level of understanding of the UL and UL firestop systems, from the careful selection of those systems to the QA/QC requirements. The UL accreditation process takes a bit of time. First, I had to go and write an exam monitored by UL, and let me tell you, it is no easy exam. Then myself, along with my team, developed our management system manual. After it was approved by UL, the audit portion comes next. UL flies their auditor out to make sure that everything we say we do, we do. Becoming UL accredited, in my opinion, was an important step needed to be taken. It shows that we take life safety and the installation of life safety systems very seriously. Why should anyone else besides us care? Well, that's pretty simple. Fire kills. Having a life safety system such as Firestop installed by a professional like a UL accredited contractor provides peace of mind to the client, And tenants. And in the event of a fire, there is a higher chance the firestop will do what it is meant to do, and hopefully it helps reduce property damage and loss of life.
