Underwriters Labs Assails Sprinklers

A widely used automatic fire sprinkler manufactured by the same company that had to recall another sprinkler model in 1998 may not operate in a fire, the nation’s leading product safety testing organization said. Some glass-bulb sprinklers produced by Central Sprinkler Co. leaked and failed to work at required water pressures in tests by Chicago-based Underwriters Laboratories, the country’s largest testing organization, and by FM Global, a commercial and industrial property insurer based in Johnston, R.I.