Practice Tip: Changing Standards in Safety

When faced with a weak design or manufacturing claim related to a product, skilled plaintiff's attorneys will develop sophisticated failure-to-warn claims focusing on the written materials related to the product. Product manuals, instructions and other lengthy product materials can provide substantial fodder for inadequate warning claims. While safety standards have existed for years for warning labels, safety signs and hang tags (ANSI Z535.1-.5), no standard existed which provided guidance for manufacturers in drafting safety information in manuals, instruction booklets or other collateral materials. Now ANSI Z535.6 has been approved, which will create consistency in longer product materials and, if followed, assist in the defense of product liability failure-to-warn claims.

ANSI Z535.6:
The New Standard

ANSI Z535.6 is one of the latest standards to join the ANSI Z535 series. It creates, for the first time, standards for safety messages in product owner's manuals, assembly instructions, user's guides, maintenance manuals and other collateral materials. These materials require different standards from those set forth in the other five Z535-series (ANSI Z535.1, .2, .3, .4 and .5, addressing safety signs and labels in environmental and facility applications, product applications and accident prevention tags) for several reasons. Not only do these materials contain more information than a sign or label, but they provide longer and more detailed safety messages, address multiple hazards, contain several pages of information that cannot be viewed simultaneously and provide information that would be impractical on product safety signs, such as definitions of the safety alert symbol, signal words and safety symbols. In addition, unlike safety signs and labels, safety information in collateral materials must often be integrated with surrounding, non-safety information. Because collateral materials are typically not attached to the product, issues relating to reading conditions, distinctiveness, placement, expected life and maintenance are different. While there have been many attempts to apply ANSI Z535.4 to collateral materials, that standard is not well-suited for broad application beyond the domain of signs and labels. ANSI Z535.6 addresses the need for a separate standard by providing an orderly and visually consistent approach for the design and placement of safety messages in product safety information.

Signal Words

Many of the safety message formats in the new standard use the signal words ' DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, and NOTICE ' used in the other ANSI Z535 standards. Signal words are often used with the safety alert symbol to form a signal word panel.

As with the other Z535 standards, signal words are selected based on degree or level of hazard seriousness and the probability and severity of harm associated with not following the safety message. While the use of color is not mandatory, if color is used with signal words, the same safety colors that are specified in the other Z535 standards are recommended.

Safety Alert Symbol

The proposed standard contains formats that include the safety alert symbol. These format options include a black triangle with a black exclamation mark and yellow background, which is identical to the “general warning sign” defined in ISO 7010 and, therefore, consistent with international standards. The safety alert symbol indicates a potential personal injury hazard and is not used for messages related to property damage only. It may be used alone or in conjunction with a signal word in a signal panel.

Types of Safety Messages

Unlike safety messages on signs or labels, safety messages in collateral materials can be classified based on their relationship to other information in the document. ANSI Z535.6 defines four types of safety messages: 1) supplemental directives; 2) grouped safety messages; 3) section safety messages; and 4) embedded safety messages.

Supplemental Directives

These are messages that refer to other safety messages, such as “read all instructions before use to avoid injury,” “to avoid serious injury or death, follow the safety information in this document,” “keep this manual,” or “read all product safety labels.” They can be used to direct users to new or particularly important safety information or to product safety
information in the document or some other source, make users aware of the safety-related nature and importance of an entire document or section, and reduce the need to repeat consequence information (e.g., “severe injury or death”) that may be associated with failure to read the entire document.

Grouped Safety Messages

Grouped safety messages are located in their own separate section or document, for example an “Important Safety Information” chapter in a document or a separate “Safety Manual.” When they are presented in a section within a document, these messages are typically placed at the beginning of a document. A separate section or document of grouped safety messages must have a title or heading indicating that the information is safety-related.

Section Safety Messages

These messages apply to an entire section of a document and are usually located at the beginning of a section, before the information to which they apply. They can be used to provide safety information that applies throughout a procedure and avoid unnecessary repetition of information about the hazards or consequences that applies to an entire section of the document.

Embedded Safety Messages

Embedded safety messages are integrated into procedures or other non-safety information. A variety of formats, including use of signal words, the safety alert symbol and bold or italics, are permitted for embedded safety messages in order to allow them to be better integrated with the surrounding information.

Conclusion

The new ANSI Z535.6 standard addresses the historical lack of generally applicable graphic systems for presenting information in product manuals and instructions. It has the potential benefit of streamlining the development of safety messages across a company's product lines. If incorporated into manuals, instructions and other collateral materials, compliance with the standard will provide product manufacturers with a strong defense to failure-to-warn claims.

Sheila T. Kerwin is the chair of the Product Liability and Toxic Tort Practice Group at Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson in Minneapolis. She is a trial lawyer who works as national coordinating counsel for product manufacturers across the country specifically in the gas appliance, transportation and industrial equipment industries. She may be reached at [email protected]. Christine M. Mennen, also with the firm, practices in the areas of commercial litigation and product liability. Ms. Mennen serves as the Young Lawyer Vice-Liaison to DRI's Commercial Litigation Committee. She may be reached at [email protected].

When faced with a weak design or manufacturing claim related to a product, skilled plaintiff's attorneys will develop sophisticated failure-to-warn claims focusing on the written materials related to the product. Product manuals, instructions and other lengthy product materials can provide substantial fodder for inadequate warning claims. While safety standards have existed for years for warning labels, safety signs and hang tags (ANSI Z535.1-.5), no standard existed which provided guidance for manufacturers in drafting safety information in manuals, instruction booklets or other collateral materials. Now ANSI Z535.6 has been approved, which will create consistency in longer product materials and, if followed, assist in the defense of product liability failure-to-warn claims.

ANSI Z535.6:
The New Standard

ANSI Z535.6 is one of the latest standards to join the ANSI Z535 series. It creates, for the first time, standards for safety messages in product owner's manuals, assembly instructions, user's guides, maintenance manuals and other collateral materials. These materials require different standards from those set forth in the other five Z535-series (ANSI Z535.1, .2, .3, .4 and .5, addressing safety signs and labels in environmental and facility applications, product applications and accident prevention tags) for several reasons. Not only do these materials contain more information than a sign or label, but they provide longer and more detailed safety messages, address multiple hazards, contain several pages of information that cannot be viewed simultaneously and provide information that would be impractical on product safety signs, such as definitions of the safety alert symbol, signal words and safety symbols. In addition, unlike safety signs and labels, safety information in collateral materials must often be integrated with surrounding, non-safety information. Because collateral materials are typically not attached to the product, issues relating to reading conditions, distinctiveness, placement, expected life and maintenance are different. While there have been many attempts to apply ANSI Z535.4 to collateral materials, that standard is not well-suited for broad application beyond the domain of signs and labels. ANSI Z535.6 addresses the need for a separate standard by providing an orderly and visually consistent approach for the design and placement of safety messages in product safety information.

Signal Words

Many of the safety message formats in the new standard use the signal words ' DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION, and NOTICE ' used in the other ANSI Z535 standards. Signal words are often used with the safety alert symbol to form a signal word panel.

As with the other Z535 standards, signal words are selected based on degree or level of hazard seriousness and the probability and severity of harm associated with not following the safety message. While the use of color is not mandatory, if color is used with signal words, the same safety colors that are specified in the other Z535 standards are recommended.

Safety Alert Symbol

The proposed standard contains formats that include the safety alert symbol. These format options include a black triangle with a black exclamation mark and yellow background, which is identical to the “general warning sign” defined in ISO 7010 and, therefore, consistent with international standards. The safety alert symbol indicates a potential personal injury hazard and is not used for messages related to property damage only. It may be used alone or in conjunction with a signal word in a signal panel.

Types of Safety Messages

Unlike safety messages on signs or labels, safety messages in collateral materials can be classified based on their relationship to other information in the document. ANSI Z535.6 defines four types of safety messages: 1) supplemental directives; 2) grouped safety messages; 3) section safety messages; and 4) embedded safety messages.

Supplemental Directives

These are messages that refer to other safety messages, such as “read all instructions before use to avoid injury,” “to avoid serious injury or death, follow the safety information in this document,” “keep this manual,” or “read all product safety labels.” They can be used to direct users to new or particularly important safety information or to product safety
information in the document or some other source, make users aware of the safety-related nature and importance of an entire document or section, and reduce the need to repeat consequence information (e.g., “severe injury or death”) that may be associated with failure to read the entire document.

Grouped Safety Messages

Grouped safety messages are located in their own separate section or document, for example an “Important Safety Information” chapter in a document or a separate “Safety Manual.” When they are presented in a section within a document, these messages are typically placed at the beginning of a document. A separate section or document of grouped safety messages must have a title or heading indicating that the information is safety-related.

Section Safety Messages

These messages apply to an entire section of a document and are usually located at the beginning of a section, before the information to which they apply. They can be used to provide safety information that applies throughout a procedure and avoid unnecessary repetition of information about the hazards or consequences that applies to an entire section of the document.

Embedded Safety Messages

Embedded safety messages are integrated into procedures or other non-safety information. A variety of formats, including use of signal words, the safety alert symbol and bold or italics, are permitted for embedded safety messages in order to allow them to be better integrated with the surrounding information.

Conclusion

The new ANSI Z535.6 standard addresses the historical lack of generally applicable graphic systems for presenting information in product manuals and instructions. It has the potential benefit of streamlining the development of safety messages across a company's product lines. If incorporated into manuals, instructions and other collateral materials, compliance with the standard will provide product manufacturers with a strong defense to failure-to-warn claims.

Sheila T. Kerwin is the chair of the Product Liability and Toxic Tort Practice Group at Halleland Lewis Nilan & Johnson in Minneapolis. She is a trial lawyer who works as national coordinating counsel for product manufacturers across the country specifically in the gas appliance, transportation and industrial equipment industries. She may be reached at [email protected]. Christine M. Mennen, also with the firm, practices in the areas of commercial litigation and product liability. Ms. Mennen serves as the Young Lawyer Vice-Liaison to DRI's Commercial Litigation Committee. She may be reached at [email protected].