What are UL Grades?
In the alarm monitoring industry, UL Grades define performance, reliability, and redundancy standards for central stations and alarm systems as set by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Their purpose is to ensure that alarm monitoring centers meet consistent benchmarks for equipment reliability, communication integrity, and response capability.
Grades generally correspond to the level of protection required. For example, Grade AA and Grade A apply to high-security operations where continuous monitoring, redundant communication paths, and backup power are mandatory. Grade B and Grade C support less critical or lower-risk environments with fewer redundancy requirements.
Underwriters Laboratories evaluates factors such as signal transmission, response times, line security, and system fault reporting to determine operational compliance. Please speak to your UL inspector for more details regarding your specific needs.
Importance of UL Grades
These grades are essential because they establish trust and accountability between monitoring centers, installing dealers, insurers, and end users.
A UL-listed monitoring center must comply with UL 827 (for Central-Station Services), UL 1981 (for Software in Central-Station Systems), and, in Canada, sometimes UL 864 or ULC-S561. UL Grades ensure that alarm signals—fire, burglary, medical, or environmental—are handled by facilities with proven infrastructure, tested backup systems, and documented operational procedures that support uninterrupted, secure monitoring.
UL Grades in Manitou
Manitou's Default UL Grades are:
- CSBG - Burglary
- CSF - Fire
- PRPB - Burglary
- PRPF - Fire
These are PLACEHOLDER grades. These are not required to be used by your accounts; however, UL Monitored accounts must have a UL grade that is listed within the Subtypes. You may add new grades within the Supervisor Workstation under the Maintenance Menu > Setup > Subtypes.