United Laboratories is the most trusted name when it comes to rating and testing products that are used for many different circumstances. When the need of testing arises for security products such as emergency exits manufacturers, while performing various tests at their own facilities, generally turn to UL for rating to test at their location or to send a representative to be a part of tests done on site.
With the importance of exit doors and the safety features they provide there are many tests that are performed to check their effectiveness, durability and use such as:
- A security test is performed on exit doors where four hundred pound of force is applied to the door. The door must be able to withstand this by not opening and properly functioning during and after.
- Exits tests are meant to see how and if the device will work if force is applied anywhere along the bar with fifteen pounds of force and the door must swing open. It must also open freely if 250 pounds of force is applied against the door and fifty pounds of force is applied against the bar.
- A humidity test is performed in which materials of the device are exposed for up to two hundred and forty hours and a salt spray test which exposes hardware and various materials for up to two hundred hours.
- The outside knob test, also known as the lever crush test, is when the lever is positioned in a tensile loading device and compressed with one thousand pounds of force. Deformation to the device cannot exceed ten to twenty five percent depending on the grade being sought.
While these are just a few of the tests that can and are performed they are merely the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
After the tests have been performed the lock or device being tested is then subject to a UL representative taking it apart and checking for any damage and checking for any and all wear points. Strikes and latches are generally where this occurs.
UL representatives will also go over all service manuals for descriptions and drawings of the product to ensure that these, too, are correct. These representatives have a vast job and also make sure that the product being sold on the market is the exact same product that was made available for testing, thus ensuring even safer products for use by performing random checks on the device being manufactured and conducting parts inspections.
It is not as if the average person will notice any changes to the emergency exit door, or pay very much notice in general (unless an airline flight attendant is pointing them out), and that's okay, because of the trust it shows in these types of doors and locks.
While not a very well known type of job, the person that performs these tests and tasks is charged with not only making sure a product works up to its specifications but in cases like testing for security exit doors they see to it that every day is safe for all people when they are in a place that requires an emergency exit door.
