Intertek’s history spans over 100 years. In 1896, Thomas Edison created the Lamp Testing Bureau of the Edison Electrical Illuminating Company to address electric lamp safety issues and the need to establish performance standards for light bulbs.
After expanding to test a wider array of products, Edison changed the name to Electrical Testing Laboratories (ETL). Over the many decades that followed, ETL would test everything from light bulbs to heating and air conditioning systems to computer and electronics equipment. Today, Intertek (as it is now called) is an internationally recognized organization that tests and verifies a wide range of products in its more than 1,000 laboratories and offices employing more than 24,000 people in 120 countries.