The first security standard for access control equipment units in the UK has been launched to improve the safety of residential premises, including multi-occupancy units, blocks of flats, single family homes, rental units and social housing.

UL 293 is the first standard of its kind developed specifically for use in the United Kingdom (UK). This standard is the result of a close collaboration between UL, a global safety science organisation, and Secured by Design (SBD), the national police crime prevention initiative in the UK.

Access control units certified to UL 293 will continue to allow unrestricted access to properly authorised users whilst complying with SBD’s building security standards to restrict unauthorised entry and make premises sufficiently robust to resist malicious electronic and physical attack.

SBD sought support from UL because of the company’s standards development expertise, experience and technical capabilities in the area of access control coupled with UL’s historical 120 plus years mission of public safety. The new standard is now referenced in ‘SBD Homes Guide 2016’, which provides security advice to builders of new residential homes in the UK.

Mick Reynolds, Senior Development Officer, SBD, said: “It’s a wonderful case of SBD working with a standards authority to produce a standard that has not been done anywhere else before.”

Chris Miles, UL business development manager, Europe and Latin America, said: “This initiative is one of the ways in which UL demonstrates its commitment to the UK and more broadly to Europe. For SBD to choose UL to develop this standard is an important step in UL providing local guidance and expertise wherever our customers are located.”

UL recently opened a new Door and Hardware Testing Laboratory in the UK to offer manufacturers the benefits of completing testing – including impact resistance, burglar resistance, durability – locally in Europe in a laboratory credited for European standards, under a European Notified Test Body.

To learn more about this dedicated standard, to discuss your access control requirements, or to pursue testing, click here http://s.ul.com/2DoIfHb.