Look at the back of your computer monitor, the bottom of your table lamp, or the label on your hair dryer. Chances are you will see the symbol “UL” with a circle around it. It stands for Underwriters Laboratories, a firm headquartered in Northbrook, Ill., and an unsung hero of the market economy.

Most people don’t realize that dozens of products in their homes—toasters, fire extinguishers, space heaters, televisions, etc.—have been tested by the Underwriters Lab for safety. The Lab also tests items like bulletproof vests, electric blankets, commercial ice cream machines, and chicken de-beakers, among thousands of other products.

But the Lab isn’t an arm of the government. It is privately owned, financed, and operated. No one is compelled by force of law to use its services. It thrives, and makes our lives safer, by the power of its excellent reputation. For that reason, its ideologically driven enemies on the left despise it.

The firm was formed in 1894 to deal with the dangers posed by the dramatic increase in the use of electricity. Today, it employs 4,000 scientists, engineers, and safety specialists to render an independent verdict on hundreds of thousands of products.

The very existence of the Lab debunks the common civics-text view that without government intervention, private businesses would seek profit without regard for safety. Thus, bureaucrats have to police markets to impose a balance between private interests and the common good. The government, then, is the only thing standing between us and unceasing fatal accidents.

The truth is the opposite. The market is well equipped to regulate itself, and does a fine job of it. It’s the government that operates without oversight. To discover the quality and value of products, no one would trust the advice of the scandal-ridden Commerce Department or the Federal Trade Commission. …

The Lab has its critics, of course. For example, Stuart Statler of the Trial Lawyers of America calls the Lab “totally driven by industry money.” Whereas they should be driven by trial-lawyer money? “Consumer advocate” Ralph Nader claims that the Lab is a “very meek, ‘lowest common denominator type’ operation.” In short, it doesn’t impose unreasonable burdens on the market, bankrupt companies, or harm consumers.

Most recently, the New York Times accused the Lab of letting down its guard and conspiring with manufacturers. The controversy surrounds the Lab’s listing of a new $2 twister cap that connects copper and aluminum wires. When copper was relatively expensive, houses were wired with aluminum. After long use, however, it has proven more of a fire hazard. Full rewiring is expensive, so the innovative caps allow homeowners an intermediate solution.

But for bureaucrats and left-wing ideologues, no private solution is praiseworthy. The Times‘s Barry Meier writes that the Lab is “sparring with Federal officials in a behind-the-scenes battle” that is “exposing some potential shortcomings of industry self-regulation.” The hope of those who oppose the twister cap is that the government will refuse to approve it for use. People will have to use old aluminum wires or the old, unsafe cap. In either case, the fire hazard will remain higher.

Such are the consequences of siding with government over private standards. After a century of public service, Underwriters Laboratories has proven a safe, effective, and cost-conscious alternative to government bureaucracy. It shows us that the market discovers new and effective solutions to the problems of everyday life, reduces the risks all around us, and does it without resorting to the coercion and inefficiency of government.