Page 08 / Certification

Certification: what is listed, who holds it, and how you check it without asking us

This page exists because a supplier's own claim about certification is worth very little. What follows is the standard each component line is referenced to, the party that actually holds the listing, the documents we release with a quotation, and the two public registers where you can verify any of it yourself in a few minutes.

Three claim rules How to verify Document pack Standards referenced

3claim rules 2public registers to check 0badges on this site 1business day to reply

The zero is deliberate and it is explained in rule three.

01 / Claim rules

Three rules, applied to every page of this site

These are not marketing principles. They are the rules that decide whether a sentence about standards or certificates is allowed onto a page at all.

Rule 01

The standard has to cover the thing it is cited for

A standard is named on this site only for the hazard or the product it actually covers. NFPA 75 covers the fire protection of information technology equipment, which is the equipment in a data centre. NFPA 13 covers sprinkler system installation. NFPA 72 covers detection and alarm. NFPA 2001 covers clean agent system design. Where a standard covers a different occupancy or a different hazard, it is not cited here at all, however familiar the number looks in a brochure.

Rule 02

A trademark is not a standard and not an approval

Several clean agents are sold under registered trade names owned by chemical manufacturers. Those names identify a chemical. They do not identify a standard, they are not issued by an approval body, and no product can hold a listing against them. Where a chemical trade name appears on this site it is used to say which agent a piece of equipment is built for, and nothing more. The equipment standards that do apply are cited by their own designations.

Rule 03

No certificate without its document number

Every certificate, listing card, test report and calibration record we circulate carries its own document number, the name of the holder and the name of the issuing body. If a document reaches you without a document number, treat it as invalid and tell us. That rule is also why this site carries no approval badge images. A badge is a picture. It is not evidence, and a page full of them tells a buyer nothing that can be checked.

02 / Line by line

What each line is referenced to, and who holds it

Read the fourth column carefully, because it is the one most supplier pages leave out. EMS-Safety supplies these components. EMS-Safety does not hold the listings.

Component lines, standards and holders
Component line	Standard referenced	What is claimed	Who holds it	Where to verify
Sprinkler heads	UL 199 FM Approvals sprinkler category	Listing or approval for the model designations on the certificate's model list	The manufacturer of record named on the certificate, at the manufacturing site named on it	UL Product iQ FM Approvals Approval Guide
Wet alarm valves	UL 193	Listing for the valve sizes on the model list	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ
Waterflow indicators	UL 346	Listing for vane type waterflow indicators at the actuation flow stated	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ
Pressure switches and valve supervisory switches	Fire protective signalling accessory listing, standard per model	Listing for fire protective signalling use	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ
Clean agent cylinder assemblies and container valves	UL 2166 halocarbon units UL 2127 inert gas units	Listing for the unit as a halocarbon or an inert gas unit, at the stated working pressure	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ FM Approvals Approval Guide
Clean agent release panels	UL 864	Listing as a control unit for fire alarm and releasing service	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ
Hydrogen detectors	UL 2075 FM Approvals 6310 / 6320 Area classification per model	Listing or approval as a gas detector, plus the hazardous area classification of the housing where one is claimed	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ FM Approvals Approval Guide
Gas alarm controllers	Listed control equipment, standard per model	Listing for the controller and its outputs	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ
Aspirating smoke detectors	UL 268 EN 54-20 classes A / B / C	Listing as a smoke detector, and the sensitivity class demonstrated for a specific pipe network	The manufacturer of record on the certificate, for the detector and for the network tested	UL Product iQ The manufacturer's EN 54-20 test report
Linear heat detection cable	UL 521 EN 54-28	Listing as a heat detector at the rated temperature, at the rated maximum voltage	The manufacturer of record on the certificate	UL Product iQ The manufacturer's EN 54-28 test report

Where the table says standard per model, that is deliberate. The standard applicable to a family can differ between models in it, and the certificate is the document that says which one applies to the article you are buying. We do not flatten that into a single claim.

03 / Five minutes of checking

How to verify a listing yourself

Step 01

Ask for the document number

Not a scan of a badge, and not a certificate number typed into an email. Ask for the certificate, with the file or report number that appears on it.

Step 02

Check the holder and the site

The certificate names a company and a manufacturing location. Confirm that the party who quoted you is the supplier of that party's product, because a certificate held by someone else proves nothing about your order.

Step 03

Look it up in the public register

UL listings can be searched in UL Product iQ by company name, product category or file number. FM approvals can be searched in the FM Approvals Approval Guide. Both registers are public and neither requires an account.

Step 04

Match the model designation character by character

A listing covers a model list, not a product family. A designation that is close to the one on the certificate is not on the certificate, and that is where substitutions quietly happen.

Step 05

Check the revision date

A certificate has a revision. If the document you are holding predates the current edition of the standard it was issued against, ask what the current status is rather than assuming it still holds.

Step 06

Ask us for it

If any of that is work you would rather not do, ask and we will send the document pack for the lines you are buying: certificate with its document number, model list, datasheet and the commercial documents.

An engineering desk with an open binder holding a printed certificate photographed almost edge on and out of focus beside a folded drawing and a pen — **Fig. 3** The document pack on a deskScene photograph

04 / Documents

What we release, and what we refuse to issue

Two lists. The first is what arrives with a quotation or a shipment on the lines that need it. The second is the list of documents we will not produce, on any order, for any reason.

Documents we issue
Document	Issued	Carries
Quotation	With the reply	Model list, prices, lead time, Incoterms, scope boundary
Datasheet	With the quotation	Parameters in both unit systems
Listing certificate	With the quotation, for listed lines	Document number, holder, issuing body, model list
Model list confirmation	With the quotation	The designation supplied against the designation requested
Declaration of conformity	Where the destination requires one	Standards applied and the signatory
Certificate of origin	With the shipping documents	Origin, for customs and duty
Packing list and invoice	With the shipment	Quantities, weights, marks, HS codes
Calibration certificate	With gas detection lines	Instrument, date, document number
Test report	On request	Test data and the document number

What we will not issue

A certificate in our own name for a product whose listing is held by someone else
A letter on another company's letterhead, or a letter describing ourselves as the manufacturer
A quality or management system badge without the certificate number and the certification body that issued it
A document describing equipment as certified to a chemical trade name
A CE certificate for a product where the regulation requires the manufacturer to issue a declaration instead
Anything that describes EMS-Safety as the installer, the designer or the commissioning party

A note on CE marking

CE marking is a declaration by the manufacturer that the product meets the applicable directives and regulations. For many fire products it rests on the EN 54 family and on a declaration of performance or conformity issued by the manufacturer, not on a certificate from a third party. A sales email offering a CE certificate for everything is a sign that nobody read the regulation. Where a notified body is involved, it has a number, and that number belongs on the document.

A note on ISO 9001 badges

A quality management certificate is worth having and it is also worth checking. A logo without a certificate number, a certification body and a validity date tells you nothing. If a supplier prints the badge but not the number, ask for the number.

05 / Standards

Every standard named on this site, and what it does and does not cover

Including the design standards, which are the ones most often quoted for the wrong thing. A design standard tells an engineer how to design. It does not certify a product, and a product standard does not design a system.

Standards referenced across this site
Designation	Covers	Used here for	Does not cover
UL 199	Automatic sprinklers for fire-protection service	Sprinkler heads	System design, installation, coverage
UL 193	Alarm valves for fire-protection service	Wet alarm valves	Riser layout, hydraulic calculation
UL 346	Waterflow indicators for fire protective signaling	Vane type flow switches	Pressure switches and valve supervisory switches, which are listed under their own accessory standard
UL 2166	Halocarbon clean agent extinguishing system units	Cylinder assemblies and valves for halocarbon agents	Inert gas equipment, which is under UL 2127, and system design
UL 2127	Inert gas clean agent extinguishing system units	Cylinder assemblies and valves for inert gases	Halocarbon equipment and system design
UL 864	Control units and accessories for fire alarm systems	Release panels and control units	Agent containers, nozzles and pipework
UL 268	Smoke detectors for fire alarm systems	Aspirating smoke detectors	Heat detection, gas detection, and the sensitivity class of a pipe network
UL 521	Heat detectors for fire protective signaling systems	Linear heat detection cable	Smoke detection
UL 2075	Gas and vapour detectors and sensors	Hydrogen detectors	Ventilation design and interlock logic
FM Approvals 6310 and 6320	Combustible gas detectors and toxic gas detectors	Gas detection equipment	Fire detection, suppression equipment
EN 54-20	Aspirating smoke detector devices, classes A, B and C	Sensitivity class of an aspirating network	US listings, and the class of any network other than the one tested
EN 54-28	Heat detectors, linear heat detectors	Linear heat detection cable	Smoke detection
NFPA 13	Installation of sprinkler systems	Design reference for the sprinkler line	Product listing. It does not certify a sprinkler head.
NFPA 72	National fire alarm and signaling code	Detection, alarm, monitoring and transmission references	Product listing, suppression equipment
NFPA 75	Fire protection of information technology equipment	The data centre as an occupied equipment space	Telecommunications facilities, which are a different occupancy covered by a different standard, and product listing
NFPA 2001 and ISO 14520	Clean agent fire extinguishing systems	Design reference for the clean agent line	Equipment listing, and any claim about a chemical trade name
NFPA 855	Installation of stationary energy storage systems	Design reference for battery rooms	Product listing, detector selection
IEEE 1635	Ventilation and thermal management of batteries	Design reference for battery room ventilation	Detection equipment and alarm logic

06 / Questions

Certification questions, answered plainly

Who holds the UL listing or the FM approval?

The manufacturer of record named on the certificate, at the manufacturing site named on the certificate. EMS-Safety supplies the component and does not hold the listing, so the certificate names the holder and we are shown as the supplier. If a supplier tells you they hold a listing for a product they do not make, ask to see the certificate and read the first page.

How do I verify a listing without asking you?

Look the company or the file number up in UL Product iQ for UL listings, or in the FM Approvals Approval Guide for FM approvals. Both are public and searchable by company name, product category or document number. Ask us for the file number and check it there. That is the whole point of publishing a number rather than a badge.

Can you issue a certificate in your own name?

No. We can only send the certificate issued to the holder, together with our own commercial documents such as the quotation, the invoice, the packing list and a declaration of conformity where one applies. A supplier authored certificate would not be evidence of anything, which is exactly why we do not offer one.

Why does this site show no approval badges?

Because a badge is not evidence. The rule we work to is that no certificate, listing or approval is claimed without its own document number, its holder and its issuing body. Where a document number is not available for a given model, no mark is shown at all. A wall of logos is easier to produce than a document number, and that is precisely the problem with it.

Do you supply the certificate for every model you quote?

For every model we quote as listed, yes, with the document number attached. Where a line is quoted as a commercial or accessory item with no listing claim, we say so in the quotation rather than letting the absence of a document be discovered later.

What if we find a certificate that does not match the model delivered?

Tell us and we will replace the goods or correct the documents, and we will tell you what happened. A model list mismatch between the certificate and the delivery is a serious finding on a project, and the last thing it should be is a surprise at the acceptance test.

Document pack

Ask for the documents on the lines you are buying

Send the model list or the specification and ask for the document pack. You get the certificate with its document number, the model list confirmation, the datasheet and the commercial documents, in one reply.

Request the document pack Jump to the standards table

Reply time: One business day
Registers: UL Product iQ, FM Approvals Approval Guide
Holder: The manufacturer of record on the certificate
Scope: Components only. No installation.