The Truth About Standards:
Have you ever wondered what the CE mark is? And what about the UIAA
symbol found on product labels and marketing literature?
In Europe there is legislation requiring that equipment used to protect against falls from heights be certified for both the base design and the continued production of that equipment. For climbing equipment, manufacturers must certify to specific harmonized European standards or EN standards. These standards outline the safety requirements and test methods for most PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) climbing equipment.
The first recognized standards for mountaineering and climbing equipment were developed by the UIAA. These old standards were the basis for the more recent EN standards, which are now the legal requirements of the European Union. The modern UIAA standards are based on the existing EN standards, but they are not legal requirements and some of them have additional requirements above and beyond the EN standards. Certification to these standards means that the equipment meets the basic design and structural requirements of the standards, but does not guarantee that equipment is unbreakable in all conditions possibly encountered while climbing. A product bearing the CE mark signifies that the product has passed the testing requirements and that the manufacturer either has an adequate system for monitoring the quality of the final product or has an appropriate internal quality control system— typically done through ISO 9001 certification. On Rope 1 achieved ISO 9001 certification in December 2005 and has successfully recertified in each subsequent year.
Confidence in your equipment means confidence in your caving, rappelling and climbing activities. The last thing you should be thinking about when descending a 300 foot pit is whether or not your gear is going to hold. To earn your trust in our equipment and the equipment we supply, we go to great lengths to provide only the strongest, highest-quality, and most comfortable equipment possible.
At On Rope 1 we third party test all of our harness products annually to insure we significantly exceed standards established by ASTM, UIAA, MFPA, UL, CE, ACCT and ANSI. This means you get equipment you can trust. Equipment you can depend on.