Formats FAQs

What safety label formats should I consider if I sell my products both in the U.S. and Internationally?

If compliance with both U.S. and international standards is important to your company, at the present time you have five basic safety label format options. It is important to understand that all of the choices presented below are valid options to choose from for your products. Your product, manufacturing methods, market, user population and compliance agency will, in the end, help you to choose which option is best for you. Again, all are valid choices. This having been said, it is interesting to note that Option 4 is the approach to safety label formatting that we have seen adopted by an ever-increasing number of Clarion customers.

Option 1

For use on equipment sold in the U.S. and Canada: ANSI Z535.4 style safety labels without ISO-formatted symbols. (Note these labels can be text-only with signal words, though we highly recommend the use of symbols).

For use on equipment sold outside the U.S. and Canada: ISO formatted symbol-only safety labels.

Option 2

For use on equipment sold in the U.S. and Canada: ANSI Z535.4 style safety labels without ISO-formatted symbols. (Note again, these labels can be text-only with signal words, though we highly recommend the use of symbols).

For use on equipment sold outside the U.S. and Canada: Use the same ANSI Z535.4 safety label but translate the word message and signal word into the language of the country into which the equipment is to be exported. The foreign text could appear as a separate text safety label, as a replacement for the English text, or as an additional language panel added to the English safety label (see examples at left). Clarion produces all of these options for various customers on a daily basis. If translation is necessary, be assured we can produce nearly any language. Click here for examples of safety labels in various languages and list of languages.

Option 3

Use what Clarion calls "harmonized" ANSI Z535.4 safety labels for equipment sold both in the U.S. and abroad. Examples are shown below. This format uses ISO formatting for the symbols appearing in the ANSI Z535.4 safety label. The issue of whether or not the text needs to be translated into the language of the country in which the product is to be used is best answered by your customer, foreign distributor and/or compliance agency. A large number of our clients have had tremendous success in using this format with English-only text for all their products, no matter where they are to be shipped. That having been said, we have produced thousands of translated "harmonized" safety label designs because many companies decide that English-only labels are not suitable for their market. Click here for more information on the Clarion harmonized format.

Option 4

For use on equipment sold in the U.S. and Canada: Use harmonized ANSI Z535.4 formatted safety labels.

For use on equipment sold outside the U.S. and Canada: Use ISO formatted symbol-only safety labels.

As stated above, this forth option is the one that we are seeing more and more manufacturers choosing. The ISO formatted symbol is the common element to both label designs. The harmonized ANSI label typically shows only one symbol and explains the rest of the safety message in words. Though, as shown in option 3 above, the harmonized ANSI label can show as many symbols as you decide are necessary. This approach also has a benefit if you ever choose to go with a symbol-only approach in the U.S. Specifically, if the ANSI Z535.4 standard allows for use of ISO symbol-only formats (as expected in its next revision in 2006), a portion of your user population in the U.S. will already have had some experience in understanding the symbols because they will have seen the ISO symbols on your harmonized labels.

Option 5

For use on equipment sold outside the U.S. and Canada: Use ISO formatted symbol-only safety labels.

Use ISO symbol-only safety for your exported equipment and for your equipment sold in the United States.

At this point it time, we do not recommend this option. The ANSI Z535 committee debated at length about whether or not to allow a symbol-only approach to product safety labels in the 2002 revision of the Z535.4 standard. Although the 2002 revision to the Z535.4 standard does allow a symbol to be substituted for all or a portion of a word message, the standard still requires a signal word (DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION) to communicate the hazard's seriousness level.

Related Information

The 2002 revision of the Z535.4 standard includes a new annex D that translates the signal words into seventeen different languages - something that will help in the standardization of translated safety labels in the Z535.4 format.

The 2002 revision also includes an annex C that describes the use of ISO safety label formats but acknowledges that differences currently exist between ANSI Z535.4 and international standards and commits to including efforts towards harmonization in the next (2006) revision.

It is most likely that the ANSI Z535.4 standard will, in its 2006 revision, include in the body of the standard an exception that will allow manufacturers to choose to use ISO 3864 Part 2 Product Safety Label standard as an alternative to the ANSI Z535.4 standard. From a standards perspective, this exception will be done by "reference," not by "transcription." This means that the Z535.4 standard will not actually include text and examples extracted from the ISO standard, but instead will simply include the whole standard by siting it as a valid alternative. In this way the Z535.4 standard will not have to repeat what is contained in ISO 3864 Part 2 nor will it have to constantly change to accommodate future revisions that might take place to the ISO document.

* Note that our experience with Canadian companies and with companies exporting to Canada is that ANSI Z535.4 formatted labels are accepted. If your products are used in Quebec, you should have both English and French text and signal words on the label.

Can I use the ISO symbol-only formats in the U.S.?

To use "symbol-only" formats in the U.S. takes on the liability risk that your labels will not be in compliance with ANSI Z535.4-2002. Note: even though the Z535.4 standard is most often considered to be the legal "state-of-the-art" for safety labeling, the standard is a voluntary standard. Your legal duty to warn is to meet or exceed the standard. It is possible that you could argue that meeting the ISO standard "exceeds" the U.S. standard and is more appropriate for your equipment. This could certainly be the case if space limitations exist and/or if non-English reading users are a predominate part of your audience. But overall, our recommendation is that your revised safety label designs use the ANSI Z535.4 standard for your equipment sold in the U.S.

What is the "harmonized" safety label format?

Over the past several years Clarion has seen a dramatic increase in the need for what it calls "harmonized" safety labels for equipment sold both in the U.S. and abroad. These safety labels currently incorporate one or more ISO-formatted symbols in the symbol panel(s) of an ANSI Z535.4 safety label and include the yellow safety alert symbol in the signal word panel as reflected in the ISO 3864-2 standard. In so doing, you are satisfying the international requirement to communicate safety information in symbolic form. The question still remains as to whether or not the text needs to be translated into the language of the country into which the equipment is exported. Different CE compliance agencies (e.g. TÜV, TÜV Product Service, Intertek, UL, etc.) and even different staff at the same compliance agency will offer up different opinions on the point concerning translation. By and large what our customers have found is that you can most often argue against the requirement to translate the text by stating that the symbol(s) communicate the essential safety information and that you have translated the safety label and all safety information in the manual(s) that accompany the equipment. If translation is still an issue, either produce translated versions of your harmonized safety labels or use symbol-only safety labels with no text for your equipment that exports.

How can Clarion assist my company in the design of new safety labels?

Clarion provides safety labels for over 3000 capital equipment manufacturers representing over 100 industries. Unlike other safety label printers, we look at the redesign of an equipment manufacturer's safety labels as a collaborative effort between our staff and your engineering department. We bring to the table our cross-industry experience combined with an unparalleled knowledge of U.S. and international safety labeling standards. Your company's product design engineers bring to the process a thorough understanding of your equipment and the hazards/risks that are inherent in its installation, use, service and/or removal. Clarion often offers suggestions for improvement that your staff must qualify as to their applicability to your products. This is especially true as it concerns the content of your safety labels. You must make the choice as to what best suits your product. See our Terms and Conditions for more information.

What's wrong with the old OSHA-style formats?

Often the safety labels we replace use the old "OSHA-style" ANSI Z535.2 Environmental and Facility Safety Sign Standard formats. These formats will no longer exist in any of the ANSI Z535 standards as of 2002. In the 1998 version of the Z535.2 standard the old formats became an "alternate" format for safety signs - the "preferred" format was changed to the Z535.4 product safety label format (the format you should have been using since 1991 when the Z535.4 standard was first published). Up until the 2002 revision, the Z535.4 standard allowed product manufacturers to use the Z535.2 formats as an exception if they so desired. Labels that use the older formats were not technically obsolete from 1991 to 2001. But with the publication of the 2002 revision of the ANSI Z535 standards they will not be in compliance! After five years as the alternate format, the old formats have been eliminated from the Z535.2 standard and thus, are no longer a valid option for product manufacturers looking to comply with the Z535.4 Product Safety Label standard. There are several reasons why the Z535 committee removed the old formats:

1. Doing so allows the signs on walls to match those on products.
2. The 1991-present Z535.4 format includes the safety alert symbol - the symbol which indicates a personal injury hazard (the safety alert symbol is the triangle with an exclamation mark to the left of the signal word DANGER, WARNING or CAUTION).
3. More of the red, orange or yellow color appears in the signal word panel of a Z535.4 safety label when compared to the signal word panel of the old formats.
4. Removing the colored background from the text portion of the old orange WARNING and yellow CAUTION signs makes the text more readable.
5. The Z535.4 format more easily accommodates symbols, which are becoming more and more important on product safety labels (Click here for more information on the usage of symbols).

Since the 2002 revision of the ANSI Z535 standards completely exclude the old formats, Clarion recommends that you change all of your safety labels used on equipment sold in the U.S. to the ANSI Z535.4 format.