@ f0fd6902:a2fbaaab
2025-06-12 12:35:40
What Keeps Us Safe?
https://mises.org/free-market/what-keeps-us-safe
Look at the back of your computer monitor, the bottom of your table lamp, or the label on your hair dryer. Chances are you will see the symbol “UL” with a circle around it. It stands for Underwriters Laboratories, a firm headquartered in Northbrook, Ill., and an unsung hero of the market economy.
Most people don’t realize that dozens of products in their homes—toasters, fire extinguishers, space heaters, televisions, etc.—have been tested by the Underwriters Lab for safety. The Lab also tests items like bulletproof vests, electric blankets, commercial ice cream machines, and chicken de-beakers, among thousands of other products.
But the Lab isn’t an arm of the government. It is privately owned, financed, and operated. No one is compelled by force of law to use its services. It thrives, and makes our lives safer, by the power of its excellent reputation. For that reason, its ideologically driven enemies on the left despise it.
The firm was formed in 1894 to deal with the dangers posed by the dramatic increase in the use of electricity. Today, it employs 4,000 scientists, engineers, and safety specialists to render an independent verdict on hundreds of thousands of products.
Unlike quality and price, safety isn’t always at the forefront of the consumer’s mind. But that hasn’t kept manufacturers from seeking out the Lab’s testing services. For those who appreciate the virtues of private enterprise, the UL insignia is an inspiration.
The Lab notes that 80% of accidents and fires are caused by consumers, not products. It takes this into account in its requirements. In the case of space heaters, for example, the Lab felt that enhanced warning labels would reduce as many fires as an expensive redesign, thus keeping down cost and price.
The Lab is not perfect, and, in a few cases, it has paid damages for its mistakes. But the failures have been few and far between. Just last year, it tested more than 16,500 types of products, nearly 80,000 different products, conducted ongoing on-site inspections, and placed the UL symbol on nearly nine billion products.
-Most recently, the New York Times accused the Lab of letting down its guard and conspiring with manufacturers. The controversy surrounds the Lab’s listing of a new $2 twister cap that connects copper and aluminum wires. When copper was relatively expensive, houses were wired with aluminum. After long use, however, it has proven more of a fire hazard. Full rewiring is expensive, so the innovative caps allow homeowners an intermediate solution.
-But for bureaucrats and left-wing ideologues, no private solution is praiseworthy. The Times‘s Barry Meier writes that the Lab is “sparring with Federal officials in a behind-the-scenes battle” that is “exposing some potential shortcomings of industry self-regulation.” The hope of those who oppose the twister cap is that the government will refuse to approve it for use. People will have to use old aluminum wires or the old, unsafe cap. In either case, the fire hazard will remain higher.
Such are the consequences of siding with government over private standards. After a century of public service, Underwriters Laboratories has proven a safe, effective, and cost-conscious alternative to government bureaucracy. It shows us that the market discovers new and effective solutions to the problems of everyday life, reduces the risks all around us, and does it without resorting to the coercion and inefficiency of government.
https://stacker.news/items/1004383