At one time or another, we certainly all do. Each NRTL has its own level of absurdity, whether by being too harsh or too lax.
There is one NRTL the international safety community of a previous employer had agreed was lax to the point of not accepting any component or OEM device that certified exclusively by that NRTL (don't ask me for a name; I'm not interested in a law suit). Another NRTL questioned the validity of _test_data_ generated by another of its offices, not a simple construction feature in a component (this was eventually resolved). While I'd prefer a happy medium, if I had to choose between the two extremes, from an ethical perspective I'd rather have too harsh than too lax. At least with having to work a little harder to make an engineering case, I don't have to be concerned that I failed to show due diligence or have a compromised conscience. With a sound engineering position and escalating to the appropriate levels within an NRTL, you can win the day. Keep in mind that each of these NRTLs has a real concern about their competition, both on the business side and the engineering side. While I appreciate Wyle's acceptance of other NRTL test reports for components, I hope that this is not a blanket acceptance, based on my own experience with lax NRTLs. Peter L. Tarver, PE ptar...@nortelnetworks.com
