UL Announces Water QualityCheck Program for Health Care Facilities

New program fulfills unmet need and assists facilities in assessing water quality risks

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Apr. 11, 2008 -- Underwriters Laboratories (UL) announced today its new Water QualityCheck™ program that will better enable managers of public or private facilities to identify and assess risks associated with drinking water quality.

Because water quality is of such importance in health care facilities, UL is initially focusing the program in this area. By partnering with UL, facility managers may now be more proactive in assessing water quality risks such as Legionella, as well as other potential contaminants. UL plans on extending the Water QualityCheck program in the future to other facilities such as hotels, resorts, offices and manufacturing plants.

Further fulfilling UL's public safety mission, this new service is a natural extension of UL's broad depth of knowledge and experience in water quality and auditing. The Water QualityCheck program specifically monitors and tests for biological and chemical contaminants in a facility's water supply that may have been previously overlooked. Currently, the Safe Water Drinking Act does not regulate for contaminants in a municipal water supply as it comes through a service line to a building and into the tap. UL's Water QualityCheck program will help facility owners better manage this water quality gap, fulfilling an unmet need in this area.

"UL's Water QualityCheck program is specifically designed to help health care facilities proactively identify potential water quality issues," said Ann Marie Gebhart, UL Water Program Director. "UL developed this program based on requests and input from the health care industry."

Further, unique characteristics of water systems in buildings may magnify public health risks. Water quality issues in buildings can arise from:

• Extreme temperatures
• Little or no disinfectant residual
• Areas of stagnation
• Cross connections and potential backflow events

Current maintenance practices at health care facilities may not be sufficient to prevent waterborne infections and illness. Health care facility managers may only discover a problem with their facility's water after a public health problem occurs. By partnering with UL, health care facilities are proactively identifying and assessing risks associated with their water quality and increasing patient and employee confidence in their water quality.

Facilities that partner with UL for this new program will benefit from a comprehensive audit and analytical assessment designed to help identify potential water quality issues. Health care facilities that meet all the requirements of this program will be authorized to display a certificate of compliance with UL's Water QualityCheck program.

The introduction of the Water QualityCheck program is the latest UL Water Program service to be offered to health care facilities and businesses. UL is an ANSI- accredited global leader in water product certification and has extensive drinking water analytical capabilities. To date, UL has analyzed more than 1.5 million water samples for public water supplies, state and federal agencies, industry and engineering firms. UL's water laboratory is certified in 48 states and Puerto Rico, making it the most certified laboratory for drinking water analysis.

For more information on UL's Water QualityCheck program or other water testing and certification services, contact Dan Klaybor at +1-800-332-4345 or visit www.ul.com/water.