Central station monitoring is a vital fire and security safety plan component — helping organizations across industries respond to critical events such as power failure, system actuation, sub-optimal system performance, and security breaches.
The truth is that all monitoring services are not created equal and provide a different degree of protection.
Let’s discuss the importance of partnering with a UL-listed central station for fire and security system monitoring, including a brief breakdown of the most common UL certification types.
What is a UL-Listed Central Station?
Founded in 1894, Underwriters Laboratory (UL) is an independent safety science company that aims to promote safe living and working environments. UL works with businesses, governments, and consumers worldwide to help create standards for products, services, and systems that meet essential requirements for safety and performance.
A UL-listed central station is an alarm monitoring center that has met the strict requirements set forth by UL. The UL listing demonstrates that the station meets the highest standards for quality regarding operational readiness, power supply, redundancy plans, and response times. This ensures that customers always receive timely and reliable service from the station. UL-listed central stations also meet additional standards for fire and burglary response protocols, as well as cyber measures to guard against online threats.
Advantages of Working with a UL-Listed Central Station
Working with a UL-Listed central station guarantees that the monitoring service follows the most up-to-date safety and quality standards. Specifically, UL-listed monitoring companies must adhere to the rigorous requirements of UL 827.
UL 827 is a baseline standard that dictates the following:
- Acceptable monitoring equipment
- Redundancy requirements
- Staffing level minimums
- Emergency response times
To maintain their certifications, UL-listed monitoring companies must pass an annual UL audit demonstrating ongoing UL 827 compliance. UL conducts unplanned on-premise evaluations to ensure companies operate at the highest standard.
Working with a UL-Listed central station will also help meet insurance requirements. Many insurance companies now require businesses in specific industries like healthcare, manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and education to use UL-Listed central stations for fire and security system monitoring.
Ultimately, UL certification is a badge of honor — demonstrating to clients that their monitoring partner is committed to high service and security, including quick response times and reliable technical support. Central stations without UL certification likely lack the desired level of care, expertise, and reliability you need to keep assets and people safe.
Why is a UL Certification Better than Other Certifications?
While UL is not the only safety certification program available, it remains superior to other safety certifications for several reasons, including:
- Stringent certification requirements
- A positive track record of over 120 years of success
- Ongoing third-party visits to ensure excellent service quality
- Only Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory (NRTL) that operates in over 100 countries
- UL's status as a non-profit organization means it cannot be bought
3 Types of UL Certifications for Central Station Monitoring
UL offers different central station certifications. When choosing a monitoring partner, ask about the type of UL certifications the central station has to ensure they have the capabilities to match your business needs.
Here are the three central station certifications to look for when selecting a credible central station monitoring service provider.
- Central station fire alarm service
- Central station burglar alarm service
- Hosted central station
A UL-Certifed Partner for Your Fire and Security Monitoring Needs
When you need reliable 24/7 fire and security system monitoring, partnering with a UL-listed central station that knows your industry intimately and can deliver ongoing technical support is critical.
Businesses should partner with a UL-listed central station monitoring company to discuss a holistic solution for their fire and security systems. An effective central station monitoring partner will be able to monitor all your essential systems to ensure rapid emergency response when you need it most.
