Third Party Certification
What is third party certification?
Are Glen Martin Fall Protection Products third party certified?
National Consensus Standards
In the United States and Canada there are organizations that
administer the development of voluntary consensus standards. The
American National Standards Institute (ANSI) administers these
standards for the United States and the Canadian Standards Association
(CSA) administers these for Canada. Voluntary consensus standards are
written through a rigorous development and
review process by industry experts, users, manufacturers, government
regulators, and other stakeholders. These standards represent what is
considered to be the minimum acceptable requirements for industry
products and practices.
In the fall protection industry, two major series of standards set
forth the requirements for our products; the ANSI Z359 series of
standards in the United States and the CSA Z259 series of standards.
In addition, ANSI A10.14-1991 covers products used in the construction
and demolition industries. Compliance with these standards may not be
a legal requirement in many areas, however compliance does have legal
relevance for everyone from the manufacturer to the user. In addition,
in the United States, OSHA sets standards for certain products either
not covered in one of the ANSI standards, or in addition to them.
Glen Martin's manufacturer, Elk River, labels each product with the
standard numbers(s) and year to which the products comply. Elk River
uses multiple techniques to ensure our products comply with the
applicable standards: internal engineering controls, extensive product
testing (both internal and external), as well as industry expertise.
In addition to this, Elk River uses "third party" certification on
many of our products.
"Third party" certification means the product has been submitted to
an independent, outside, body, for testing and certification. Our
labels indicate whether the product is "compliant" or "certified", and
if "certified", by whom.
When sourcing fall protection, you can rest assured of Glen
Martin's commitment to assuring our
products meet or exceed the applicable National Consensus Standards,
as well as government regulations. Elk River can supply test records,
product certifications, or independent certification as appropriate.
Quality System Standards
One way Elk River ensures each product complies with National
Consensus Standards is through
its ISO 9001:2000 compliant Quality Management System. ISO 9001:2000
is a standard developed to establish the best practices for Quality
Management Systems. The ISO 9001:2000 standard is recognized worldwide
as the blue print for quality systems, and is considered the "Gold
Standard" in quality management systems.
The 2000 version of ISO 9001 is much more extensive than previous
versions. Previous versions
were product oriented, whereas the 2000 version is much more customer
oriented and system oriented. The 2000 version covers every aspect of
a company that interacts with the customer. It is a very rigorous
process, but one that is very beneficial.
Elk River's Quality Management system has been certified as
compliant by an external registration
organization, with a worldwide reputation. A copy of our certification
to ISO 9001:2000 is avail-
able upon request.
Look for It. Be Safer Because of It.
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