[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 198 (Tuesday, October 14, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59209-59211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-25908]


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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

[Docket Nos. NRTL4-93]


Underwriters Laboratories Inc., Applications for Expansion of 
Recognition

AGENCY: Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces the application of Underwriters 
Laboratories Inc. for expansion of its recognition as a Nationally 
Recognized Testing Laboratory under 29 CFR 1910.7, and presents the 
Agency's preliminary finding. This preliminary finding does not 
constitute an interim or temporary approval of these applications.

DATES: You may submit comments in response to this notice, or any 
request for extension of the time to comment, by (1) regular mail, (2) 
express or overnight delivery service, (3) hand delivery, (4) messenger 
service, or (5) FAX transmission (facsimile). Because of security-
related problems there may be a significant delay in the receipt of 
comments by regular mail. Comments (or any request for extension of the 
time to comment) must be submitted by the following dates:
    Regular mail and express delivery service: Your comments must be 
postmarked by October 29, 2003.
    Hand delivery and messenger service: Your comments must be received 
in the OSHA Docket Office by October 29, 2003. OSHA Docket Office and 
Department of Labor hours of operation are 8:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
    Facsimile and electronic transmission: Your comments must be sent 
by October 29, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Regular mail, express delivery, hand-delivery, and messenger 
service: You must submit three copies of your comments and attachments 
to the OSHA Docket Office, Docket NRTL4-93, Room N-2625, U.S. 
Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 200 
Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. Please contact the OSHA 
Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 for information about security 
procedures concerning the delivery of materials by express delivery, 
hand delivery and messenger service.
    Facsimile: If your comments, including any attachments, are 10 
pages or fewer, you may fax them to the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 
693-1648. You must include the docket number of this notice, Docket 
NRTL4-93, in your comments.
    Internet access to comments and submissions: OSHA will place 
comments and submissions in response to this notice on the OSHA Web 
page http://www.osha.gov. Accordingly, OSHA cautions you about 
submitting information of a personal nature (e.g., social security 
number, date of birth). There may be a lag time between when comments 
and submissions are received and when they are placed on the Web page. 
Please contact the OSHA Docket Office at (202) 693-2350 for information 
about materials not available through the OSHA Web page and for 
assistance in using the Web page to locate docket submissions. Comments 
and submissions will also be available for inspection and copying at 
the OSHA Docket Office at the address above.
    Extension of Comment Period: Submit requests for extensions 
concerning this notice to: Office of Technical Programs and 
Coordination Activities, NRTL Program, Occupational Safety and Health 
Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N3653, 200 Constitution 
Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20210. Or fax to (202) 693-1644.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roy Resnick, Office of Technical 
Programs and Coordination Activities, NRTL Program, Room N3653 at the 
address shown immediately above for the program, or phone (202) 693-
2110.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice of Application

    The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) hereby 
gives notice that Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) has applied for 
expansion of its recognition as a Nationally Recognized Testing 
Laboratory (NRTL). UL's expansion request covers the use of additional 
test standards. OSHA's

[[Page 59210]]

current scope of recognition for UL may be found in the following 
informational Web page: http://www.osha-slc.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/ul.html.
    OSHA recognition of an NRTL signifies that the organization has met 
the legal requirements in section 1910.7 of Title 29, Code of Federal 
Regulations (29 CFR 1910.7). Recognition is an acknowledgment that the 
organization can perform independent safety testing and certification 
of the specific products covered within its scope of recognition and is 
not a delegation or grant of government authority. As a result of 
recognition, employers may use products ``properly certified'' by the 
NRTL to meet OSHA standards that require testing and certification.
    The Agency processes applications by an NRTL for initial 
recognition or for expansion or renewal of this recognition following 
requirements in Appendix A to 29 CFR 1910.7. This appendix requires 
that the Agency publish two notices in the Federal Register in 
processing an application. In the first notice, OSHA announces the 
application and provides its preliminary finding and, in the second 
notice, the Agency provides its final decision on the application. 
These notices set forth the NRTL's scope of recognition or 
modifications of that scope. We maintain an informational Web page for 
each NRTL, which details its scope of recognition. These pages can be 
accessed from our Web site at http://www.osha-slc.gov/dts/otpca/nrtl/index.html.
    The most recent notice published by OSHA for UL's recognition 
covered an expansion of recognition, which became effective on March 
25, 2003 (68 FR 14432).
    The current addresses of the UL facilities (sites) recognized by 
OSHA are:

Underwriters Laboratories Inc., 333 Pfingsten Road, Northbrook, 
Illinois 60062.
Underwriters Laboratories Inc., 1285 Walt Whitman Road, Melville, Long 
Island, New York 11747.
Underwriters Laboratories Inc., 1655 Scott Boulevard, Santa Clara, 
California 95050.
Underwriters Laboratories Inc., 12 Laboratory Drive, P.O. Box 13995, 
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709.
Underwriters Laboratories Inc., 2600 N.W. Lake Road, Camas, Washington, 
98607.
UL International Limited, Veristrong Industrial Centre, Block B, 14th 
Floor, 34 Au Pui Wan Street, Fo Tan Sha Tin, New Territories, Hong 
Kong.
UL International Services, Ltd., Taiwan Branch, 4th Floor, 260 Da-Yeh 
Road, Pei Tou District Taipei City, Taiwan.
UL International Demko A/S, Lyskaer 8, P.O. Box 514, DK-2730, Herlev, 
Denmark.
Underwriters Laboratory International (U.K.) Ltd., Wonersh House, The 
Guildway, Old Portsmouth Road Guildford, Surrey GU3 1LR, United 
Kingdom.
Underwriters Laboratory International Italia S.r.l., Via Archimede 42, 
1-20041 Agrate Brianza, Milan, Italy Testing facility: Z.I. Predda 
Niedda st. 18, I-07100, Sassari, Italy.
Underwriters Laboratories of Canada, 7 Crouse Road, Scarborough, 
Ontario, Canada MIR 3A9.
UL Japan Co., Ltd., Shimbashi Ekimae Bldg.--1 Gohkan, 4th floor, Room 
402, 2-20-15 Shimbashi Minato Ku, Tokyo 105-0004, Japan.
UL Korea, Ltd., 805, Manhattan Building 36-2, Yeoui-dong, 
Yeoungdeungpo-gu, Seoul 150-010, Korea.
UL International Germany GmbH, Frankfurter Strasse 229, D-63263 Neu-
Isenburg, Germany.
UL International (Netherlands) B.V., Landjuweel 52, NL-3905 PH 
Veenendaal, Netherlands.

General Background on the Application.

    UL has submitted an application, dated November 18, 2002 (see 
Exhibit 30), to expand its recognition to include 41 additional test 
standards. The NRTL Program staff has determined that ten of these 
standards cannot be included in the expansion because they are not 
``appropriate test standards'' within the meaning of 29 CFR 1910.7(c), 
while an additional twelve of the standards requested are already 
included in UL's scope. The staff makes similar determinations in 
processing expansion requests from any NRTL. Therefore, OSHA would 
approve 19 test standards for the expansion, which are listed below. 
Through no fault of UL, the application has been delayed in processing. 
UL seeks recognition for testing and certification of products for 
demonstration of conformance to the following test standards:

UL 441 Standard for Gas Vents.
UL 508A Industrial Control Panels.
UL 515 Electrical Resistance Heat Tracing for Commercial and Industrial 
Applications.
UL 568 Nonmetallic Cable Tray Systems.
UL 943B Appliance Leakage-Current Interrupters.
UL 1004A Fire Pump Motors.
UL 1285 Pipe and Couplings, Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) for Underground 
Fire Service.
UL 1713 Pressure Pipe and Coupling, Glass Fiber-Reinforced, for 
Underground Fire Service.
UL 2129 Standard for Safety for Halocarbon Clean Agent Fire 
Extinguishers.
UL 2305 Exhibition Display Units, Fabrication and Installation.
UL 2351 Spray Nozzles for Fire-Protection Service.
UL 2388 Flexible Lighting Products.
UL 3111-2-31 Hand-Held Probe Assemblies for Electrical Measurement and 
Test.
UL 60335-2-8 Household and Similar Electrical Appliances, Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Electric Shavers, Hair Clippers, and 
Similar Appliances.
UL 61010A-2-010 Electrical Equipment for Laboratory Use; Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Laboratory Equipment for the Heating of 
Materials.
UL 61010A-2-041 Electrical Equipment for Laboratory Use; Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Autoclaves Using Steam for the Treatment of 
Medical Materials for Laboratory Processes.
UL 61010A-2-042 Electrical Equipment for Laboratory Use; Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Autoclaves and Sterilizers Using Toxic Gas 
for the Treatment of Medical Materials, and for Laboratory Processes.
UL 61010A-2-051 Electrical Equipment for Laboratory Use; Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Laboratory Equipment Mixing and Stirring.
UL 61010A-2-061 Electrical Equipment for Laboratory Use; Part 2: 
Particular Requirements for Laboratory Atomic Spectrometers with 
Thermal Atomization and Ionization.

    The designations and titles of the above test standards were 
current at the time of the preparation of this notice.
    OSHA's recognition of UL, or any NRTL, for a particular test 
standard is limited to equipment or materials (i.e., products) for 
which OSHA standards require third party testing and certification 
before use in the workplace. Consequently, an NRTL's scope of 
recognition excludes any product(s) that fall within the scope of a 
test standard, but for which OSHA standards do not require NRTL testing 
and certification.
    Many of the test standards listed above are approved as American

[[Page 59211]]

National Standards by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). 
However, for convenience in compiling the list, we show the designation 
of the standards developing organization (e.g., UL 441) for the 
standard, as opposed to the ANSI designation (e.g., ANSI/UL 441). Under 
our procedures, an NRTL recognized for an ANSI-approved test standard 
may use either the latest proprietary or ANSI version of that standard, 
regardless of which version appears in the list of test standards found 
on OSHA's informational Web page for the NRTL. Contact ``NSSN'' (http://www.nssn.org), an organization partially sponsored by ANSI, to find 
out whether a standard is currently ANSI-approved.

Preliminary Finding on the Application

    UL has submitted an acceptable request for expansion of its 
recognition as an NRTL. In connection with this request, OSHA did not 
believe it necessary to perform an on-site review of UL's NRTL testing 
facilities. However, following a review of the application file and 
other pertinent documents, the NRTL Program staff has concluded that 
OSHA should grant to UL the expansion of recognition as an NRTL to use 
the additional test standards listed above (see Exhibit 31). The staff, 
therefore, recommended to the Assistant Secretary that the application 
be preliminarily approved.
    Based upon the recommendation of the staff, the Agency has made a 
preliminary finding that Underwriters Laboratories Inc. can meet the 
requirements, as prescribed by 29 CFR 1910.7, for the expansion of 
recognition. This preliminary finding does not constitute an interim or 
temporary approval of the application.
    OSHA welcomes public comments, in sufficient detail, as to whether 
UL has met the requirements of 29 CFR 1910.7 for expansion of its 
recognition as a Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory. Your comment 
should consist of pertinent written documents and exhibits. To consider 
a comment, OSHA must receive it at the address provided above (see 
ADDRESSES), no later than the last date for comments (see DATES above). 
Should you need more time to comment, OSHA must receive your written 
request for extension at the address provided above no later than the 
last date for comments. You must include your reason(s) for any request 
for extension. OSHA will limit any extension to 30 days, unless the 
requester justifies a longer period. We may deny a request for 
extension if it is frivolous or otherwise unwarranted. You may obtain 
or review copies of UL's request, the recommendation on the expansion, 
and all submitted comments, as received, by contacting the Docket 
Office, Room N2625, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, U.S. 
Department of Labor, at the above address. You should refer to Docket 
No. NRTL4-93, the permanent record of public information on UL's 
recognition.
    The NRTL Program staff will review all timely comments and, after 
resolution of issues raised by these comments, will recommend whether 
to grant UL's expansion request. The Agency will make the final 
decision on granting the expansion and, in making this decision, may 
undertake other proceedings that are prescribed in Appendix A to 29 CFR 
Section 1910.7. OSHA will publish a public notice of this final 
decision in the Federal Register.

    Signed at Washington, DC this 7th day of October, 2003.
John L. Henshaw,
Assistant Secretary.
[FR Doc. 03-25908 Filed 10-10-03; 8:45 am]
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