Grade 1 Certification For Door Hardware
The American National Standards Institute is a non-profit organization that promotes voluntary conformity standards in the United States. ANSI standards cover most types of door hardware products and manufacturers are encouraged to have their products tested using their very specific criteria and conditions to ensure safety and reliability. Some of the test procedures for evaluating privacy door locks were developed by the Builders Hardware Manufacturers Association (BHMA). These procedures instruct on precisely what components of a privacy lock are to be tested and to what performance standard. Product testing is conducted by companies such as Underwriters’ Laboratories and Intertek Group who follow the BHMA documentation.
During the late stages of core product development, the Restroom UP LoK was submitted to an independent lab as a candidate for Grade 1 certification. Representing the highest standard for privacy door locks, the Grade 1 program focuses mainly on moving parts that include a manually operated latch and a rotating knob or lever. It quickly became apparent the independent lab was unable to apply the BHMA test procedures to a new technology that lacked both of these hand-operated components. As a result, the Restroom UP LoK was rejected as a candidate for Grade 1 certification.
Despite the inability to obtain certification, the UP LoK has proven to be reliable to hundreds of thousands of open/close/lock/unlock cycles.
| Metric Description | ANSI / BHMA Standard | Restroom UP LoK Test Standard |
| Open & Close Cycle Count | 800,000 | 800,000 |
| Lock & Unlock Cycle Count | 0 – Function not tested. | 500,000 |
To put this level of testing into some useful context, consider a single-user washroom door that experiences an average of 40 visitors per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The 800,000 open and close cycles represent 400,000 visits (the door will open and close twice per visit) while the 500,000 lock and unlock cycles represent the same, half million, number of visits . Ongoing usage at these rates would theoretically qualify the device to function properly for over 27 years. However given the physical condition of the individual UP LoK components after testing, an expected duty cycle far in excess of the scope of testing is a reasonable conclusion.
