This article originally appeared in the October 2024 issue of Security Business magazine. Don’t forget to mention Security Business magazine on LinkedIn and @SecBusinessMag on Twitter if you share it.
In any industry, you want to know that the organizations, vendors, and providers you partner with are trusted, reliable, and consistently adhere to the highest standards. For security integrators, that means working with monitoring centers that are experienced, technically and operationally sound, up-to-date with best practices, and known for delivering high-quality service. How can you easily evaluate that?
That’s where standards-setting organizations, such as Underwriters Laboratories of Canada (ULC) and their U.S. counterpart, Underwriters Laboratories (UL), come in. They thoroughly test and inspect products and services across a range of industries, giving their seal of approval to those that meet their stringent safety standards.
As independent, non-governmental scientific organizations, ULC and UL help to establish industry benchmarks, ultimately raising the bar for us all.
Whether a monitoring center or an integrator, you are in the business of protecting lives and safeguarding property – and that extra level of assurance from a respected organization like ULC matters.
A good first step is understanding how ULC works and why it matters in our industry. And if you are already ULC-listed or already work with ULC-listed signal receiving centers, then it is important to understand revised standards that could affect your business in 2025.
ULC Certification
For Canadian safety and security professionals, a ULC certification is an important distinction that shows customers, insurers, and government officials that your products and services have been rigorously vetted, tested, and approved by independent experts.
While a ULC certification is not required to do business in Canada, it is a valuable asset. Think of it as a second pair of eyes: ULC experts can evaluate your operations and point out possible omissions, blind spots, or opportunities to improve. They can also help you ensure that systems are updated regularly, operations are as efficient as possible, and potentially life-threatening oversights are flagged before they can cause real damage.
To be recognized by ULC, companies must undergo a rigorous evaluation process and meet very specific technical and operational criteria within their listing category. Only once they have been thoroughly vetted are they granted a listing in ULC’s directory of trusted providers.
Once a company receives a ULC listing, it must undergo regular audits to maintain good standing. ULC also regularly evaluates and updates their accreditation requirements, and it is up to organizations to stay current and make necessary changes to their equipment or processes as required.
How Monitoring Centers Can Get Certified
There are a plethora of products and services on offer within the security and safety industry, and ULC has developed a range of certification options to address them. The categories relevant to a monitoring center include:
● Commercial type signal receiving centers
● Fire protective signaling systems
● Financial type signal receiving centers
● Signal receiving center automation software
Naturally, each category comes with its own set of certification requirements. While these may seem confusing at first, ULC does not expect you to sort through them on your own; in fact, the recommended first step for those pursuing a new certification is to contact ULC directly for a one-on-one phone conversation.
To begin the process, email ULC at [email protected]. They will set up a phone call with an auditor technologist who will answer your questions and review next steps. This will help you determine the course of action that makes sense for your business.
New Redundancy Requirement set for 2025
Whether you are an integrator or a monitoring center, you should be aware of new redundancy requirements that go into effect on Jan. 1, 2025. These will impact all Canadian monitoring centers that wish to earn or maintain their ULC standing.
The change will affect the following standards:
● CAN/ULC-S301: Standard for Signal Receiving Centres Configurations and Operations
● CAN/ULC-561: Standard for Installation and Services for Fire Signal Receiving Centres and Systems.
This update is ultimately good for everyone: it is designed to ensure that in case of failure at a monitoring center’s primary site, the company will still be able to provide services via a secondary backup location. That is a major victory for customers, their property, and their personal safety. It is also a win for integrators, who can rest assured that in the event of failure at a primary monitoring center, service need not be interrupted.
Still, preparing for this change can feel daunting. Some monitoring centers may even be wondering if they have to build out a whole new physical location The good news is that is not necessary, as long as you can establish adequate backups for servers, receivers, and operators.
Here are three ways monitoring centers can comply with this new requirement without building out a redundant site:
Contract with another ULC-listed signal receiving center to install and operate your own physical servers and receivers at their location. This can be costly, as you would be purchasing equipment to replicate your current environment at this secondary location.
Move all of your receivers and/or servers into the cloud, relinquishing control of your physical infrastructure to a ULC-listed hosted signal receiving center (HSRC). While this is a more streamlined and cost-effective solution, you would no longer own or operate any of your own equipment.
Continue using local receivers and servers and back them up with cloud-based servers and receivers. To do this, you would use automated alarm monitoring software from a company that is ULC-listed as both an HSRC and an Automation Software Provider. (Monitoring centers should check if their alarm automation software provider meets these requirements.) This provides you with the benefit of cost-effective, cloud-based redundancies while maintaining control of your current physical infrastructure.
