Questions and answers with Underwriters Laboratories (UL)'s MOU partners

National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (BSN)

Dr. Puji Winarni, deputy chairman for General Affairs. An MOU was signed with BSN in 2017 at the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) general meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.

Q: What are some benefits of being an MOU partner with Underwriters Laboratories?
A: We have had a lot of activities ranging from capacitybuilding, assistance with standards development, standards education, promotional activities and support of Indonesian expert participation in UL STPs (which increased from zero to three during 2020).

Until now, it has not been easy to attract expertise in fire safety and battery safety in Indonesia. The collaboration with Underwriters Laboratories helps us to strengthen BSN’s National Technical Committee, Komtek, and attract more experts to Indonesian National Standards.

Through joint activities, we are able to reach out to more high-level government officials in Indonesia, especially in fire safety, and gain more support from them. Most importantly, the partnership strengthens the relationship between the two organizations.

Q: What resources do you find beneficial?

A: First and foremost, we highly value Underwriters Laboratories’ dedicated regional standards manager who understands the region’s needs and facilitates the communication between BSN and Underwriters Laboratories. We see a dramatic improvement of engagement with BSN since Underwriters Laboratories added this position in 2019. Underwriters Laboratories’ extensive connections in the standardization community have been very useful to help us connect with other international standards developers, who are otherwise difficult for BSN to reach.

Q: How has the MOU with Underwriters

Laboratories benefited standards and safety in Indonesia?

A: The most significant sector is fire safety, which is critical as it protects human lives and assets. Unquestionably, standards play an instrumental role in this area to ensure fire safety equipment functions properly during accidents. Collaboration with Underwriters Laboratories allows us to tap into the library of UL Standards to develop effective fire safety standards. Fire protection can promote economic development in Indonesia. As a fast-growing economy, Indonesia has huge market potential in this sector. Standards can support local manufacturers, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, in tapping into this new market opportunity. Hence, BSN needs to develop more standards to fill in the industry gap and speed up the revision of standards to keep up with the technology.

Q: Which standards (or types of standards) is Indonesia planning to adopt/reference?

A: One of the BSN national standards strategies is to support electrification and sustainability, e.g., electric ehicles, e-mobility, renewable energy and other similar innovations. These are important areas that BSN can support through standards development. Indonesia is a huge country with thousands of islands. Telehealth is critical to ensure access to healthcare in rural areas and isolated islands. The development of standards is urgent to address the gaps, empower trust and accelerate the adoption of these technologies. Besides these two broad areas, BSN has plans to adopt UL Standards for fire safety in buildings — particularly for sprinklers.

Q: How has having access to UL Standards helped with your standards work?

A: We have been able to download all the UL Standards electronically. We are able to share the Standards with Komtek for their review as part of standards development purposes. They are then able to discuss them within their committee to make decisions for adoption or to decide which part of the Standards are relevant for the Indonesian environment to strengthen SNI development.

Q: What are your impressions of Underwriters Laboratories beyond its work as a standards development organization?

A: Besides being a global standards organization, Underwriters Laboratories supports a lot of meaningful activities, especially educational programs for new generations from young children to university students. This aligns well with BSN’s standards education program and allows us to strengthen our collaboration and outreach to our key stakeholders in this area, especially the Ministry of Education, to promote the importance of standardization and how to use standards to support national priorities and policies.

Sumber: Underwriters Laboratories International Standards 2020: The Year in Review