What standards should I look to for product safety label development?

The primary standard to follow for products sold in the United States is ANSI Z535.4 for Product Safety Signs and Labels. This standard was first published in 1991, revises every several years, and is due for a revised publication in June of 2011. There are some manufacturer's who are not aware that this standard exists and therefore follow OSHA regulations that were put in place over 60 years ago. There are a great majority of manufacturer's who are unaware that the ANSI Z535 standard revises, most still following outdated versions and should look to update to the current version.

For international standards, the primary standard is ISO 3864-2. There are distinct differences between the two, however in 2007 ANSI Z535.4 harmonized with this standard, therefore allowing a label format that meets both standards. A point that many manufacturer's are unaware of.

There are several product specific standards that exist, however these two standards are the primary standards to look to when developing safety labels. 

Just how important are product safety labels?

Working for arguably the expert in warning label development and design, it's always crazy to me to think that there are some manufacturer's out there who truly believe safety labels aren't that big of a deal. "Just slap a sticker on there and we'll be fine." Honestly, prior to working for Clarion Safety Systems, I would have felt the same. So why the change of heart you may be asking? It's simple, I'm now educated enough to know why it is essential to have, not only safety labels, but effective ones. They help reduce injuries. They help reduce product liability risk. They help company's improve their safety image. They are very important.

We should all know by now that every manufacturer has a legal duty to warn of the hazards associated with their product. These days, products are manufactured with better safe guards, meaning most hazards could potentially be designed out of the product. However should a manufacturer be dealt a product liability lawsuit by someone who was injured or killed using their product, lawyers are tasked to still find something wrong. That something could be a "failure to warn". Every manufacturer should go through some sort of risk assessment to define what hazards actually exist on their product (I do have resources available should you be interested, just e-mail me). Once those hazards have been identified, you have to warn against them. There are a number of options on which to do so depending on your product, industry, markets sold into, etc. etc. Not something a local printer can help you out with either. There are specialists out there who can develop warnings, we're just one of them. However, we are intimately involved in the pertinent standards and have tons of practical experience working with many different industries. Let us be your expert in designing compliant, effect safety labels.