TÜVs (German pronunciation: [ˈtʏf]; short for German: Technischer Überwachungsverein, English: Technical Inspection Association) are internationally active, independent service companies from Germany and Austria that test, inspect and certify technical systems, facilities and objects of all kinds in order to minimize hazards and prevent damages.
With the increasing number and efficiency of steam engines during the Industrial Revolution, there had been more and more accidents caused by exploding (or more precisely, bursting) boilers.
Twenty boiler owners in Baden joined in the plans and finally founded the Gesellschaft zur Überwachung und Versicherung von Dampfkesseln ("Society for the Supervision and Insurance of Steam Boilers") on 6 January 1866 in the rooms of the Mannheim Stock Exchange.
The regional Dampfkessel-Überwachungs- und Revisions-Vereine (DÜV), as self-help organizations of steam boiler operators, were thus an early example of a very successful privatization of previously state inspections.
[2] All TÜVs perform sovereign tasks in the fields of vehicle monitoring, driver licensing and equipment and product safety.
Its main tasks are testing and certification in the business areas of industry, automotive, and human resources and education.
TÜV Saarland emerged from the Pfälzischer Dampfkessel-Revisions-Verein (Palatinate Steam Boiler Auditing Association) founded in 1871 and is headquartered in Sulzbach.
The managing directors of TÜV Saarland Holding GmbH are Carsten Schubert (spokesman) and Thorsten Greiner.
TÜV Rheinland operates as a technical testing organization in the areas of safety, efficiency and quality.
In addition, "TÜV-geprüft" colloquially means a seal of quality for technical testing by a TÜV company (see above).
The aim of the TÜV Association is to improve the technical and digital safety of vehicles, products, systems and services through independent assessments.
Together with its members, the TÜV Association pursues the goal of maintaining the high level of technical safety in our society and creating trust for the digital world.
TÜV SÜD audited and certified Vale, a company that was involved in the 2015 Mariana dam disaster.
In October 2019, five Brazilians who lost close family members in the disaster and two NGOs filed a law infringement complaint against TÜV SÜD, alleging that it was jointly responsible for the deaths and environmental damage(s).
[16] On 25 January 2019, a recently inspected tailings dam collapsed, killing 270 people, 259 of whom were officially confirmed as dead, whereas 11 others, whose bodies had not yet been found, were reported as missing.
Brazilian authorities issued arrest warrants for two engineers of TÜV SÜD, contracted to inspect the dam.
[18][19][20] Brazilian prosecutors announced, on 21 January 2020, that Vale, TÜV SÜD, and 16 individuals would be charged in relation to the dam disaster.
[21] In 2020, Brazilian prosecutors announced their plans to file charges against Vale S.A. and its auditor TÜV SÜD as well as many other individuals.