Product Liability and Your Labels: An Expert Opinion
Throughout the year, our team at Clarion Safety Systems likes to provide updates and clear guidance to our audience on the latest product safety and labeling best practices. Recently, at the start of November, we released an article through our ‘On Your Mark’ column in InCompliance Magazine that provides insight on Product Liability and Your Safety Labels. It examine the importance of adequate labels and the formatting options available for different audiences – from a product liability perspective.
ANSI/ISO Safety Label Format
Options
There
are two core labeling standards to follow to create effective warnings that
accurately communicate hazard information: ANSI
Z535.4 domestically and ISO
3864-2 internationally. The current versions of these standards,
as of 2022, allow manufacturers to use a variety of different label format
options, including:
- Symbol-only Labels
- Symbol and Text Labels
- Text-Only ANSI Labels
- Wordless Labels
- Multilingual Labels
Deciding the best fit for your intended audience isn’t always easy. Understanding the product liability and legal landscape can help you to have a better understanding of the right options to pursue.
Product
Liability and Your Safety Labels
For a deeper understanding, we turning to one of our product consulting
experts, Cal
Burnton, a trial attorney with 30 years of experience in
product/machinery safety, product liability, and complex litigation. Cal helped
to answer common questions and pain points related to optimized safety and
evidence-based labeling trends. Those topics include:
- The importance of warnings and product safety labels in modern liability lawsuits
- Trending topics in liability lawsuits that include inadequate warnings
- How ANSI Z535 and ISO 3864-2 hold up in a U.S court of law
- How important the use of symbols are in liability lawsuits
- A legal perspective on ‘symbol only’ and ‘wordless’ labeling formats
For more information, read the full article and interview with Cal.
Clarion
Safety’s Commitment to You
Over
the years, our team at Clarion Safety Systems has worked hard on developing our
educational resources and services to better serve the safety community – and
we remain committed to providing fresh updates and news on a regular basis.
Here are a few of the resources available to you:
- Access a library of our recent InCompliance Magazine articles by visiting our “In the News” section of the website.
- Visit our online Safety Resources with up-to-date articles and guides, related to both machine and workplace safety
- For additional information on the ANSI Z535.4 and ISO 3864-2 and safety label format options, download our complimentary e-guide, recently created and addressing the latest updates for 2022!
If you have any questions about safety standards/regulations and best practices for product safety, reach out to our team today!
