NEMA-Z535.4-2007.pdf

ANSI Z535.4-2007 American National Standard for Product Safety Signs and Labels ANSI Z535.4-2007 American National Standard For Product Safety Signs and Labels Secretariat: National Electrical Manufacturers Association Approved May 15, 2007 Published June 1, 2007 American National Standards Institute, Inc. ANSI Z535.4-2007 DISCLAIMER The information in this publication was considered technically sound by the consensus of persons engaged in the development and approval of the document at the time it was developed. Consensus does not necessarily mean that there is unanimous agreement among every person participating in the development of this document. NEMA standards and guideline publications, of which the document contained herein is one, are developed through a voluntary consensus standards development process. This process brings together volunteers and/or seeks out the views of persons who have an interest in the topic covered by this publication. 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NEMA does not certify, test, or inspect products, designs, or installations for safety or health purposes. Any certification or other statement of compliance with any health or safetyrelated information in this document shall not be attributable to NEMA and is solely the responsibility of the certifier or maker of the statement. i AMERICAN NATIONAL STANDARD Approval of an American National Standard requires verification by ANSI that the requirements for due process, consensus, and other criteria for approval have been met by the standards developer. Consensus is established when, in the judgment of the ANSI Board of Standards Review, substantial agreement has been reached by directly and materially affected interests. Substantial agreement means much more than a simple majority, but not necessarily unanimity. Consensus requires that all views and objections be considered, and that a concerted effort be made toward their resolution. 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Purchasers of American National Standards may receive current information on all standards by calling or writing the American National Standards Institute. Published by National Electrical Manufacturers Association 1300 North 17th Street, Rosslyn, VA 22209 © Copyright 2007 by National Electrical Manufacturers Association All rights reserved including translation into other languages, reserved under the Universal Copyright Convention, the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, and the International and Pan American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form, in an electronic retrieval system or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America ANSI Z535.4-2007 ii This page intentionally left blank. ANSI Z535.4-2007 iii Contents Page Foreword vii 1 Introduction 1 2 Scope and purpose1 2.1 Scope .1 2.2 Purpose.1 2.2.1 Existing American National Standards 1 3 Application and exceptions 2 3.1 Application.2 3.1.1 ISO-formatted safety signs 2 3.2 Exceptions.2 4 Definitions 2 5 Sign classification.4 5.1 Hazard classification.4 5.2 Signal word selection4 5.3 Multiple hazard identification.5 5.3.1 One sign or label5 5.3.2 Levels of seriousness 5 6 Sign or label format5 6.1 Panels .5 6.2 Panel arrangement5 6.2.1 Panel format.5 6.2.2 Panel placement 5 6.3 Safety alert symbol5 6.4 Distinctiveness5 6.5 Word message5 6.5.1 Multiple messages .5 6.5.2 Lengthy verbiage .6 ANSI Z535.4-2007 iv 6.6 Safety symbol6 7 Safety sign and label colors.6 7.1 Standard colors.6 7.2 Signal word panels6 7.2.1 DANGER6 7.2.2 WARNING6 7.2.3 CAUTION.6 7.2.4 NOTICE6 7.2.5 Safety alert symbol 6 7.3 Message panel6 7.4 Safety symbol panel6 7.5 Border .6 7.6 Color options.7 7.6.1 Other colors7 7.6.2 When special circumstances limit the use of sign colors.7 7.6.3 When special circumstances preclude the use of safety colors 7 8 Letter style and size.7 8.1 Letter style.7 8.1.1 Signal words.7 8.1.2 Message panel lettering.7 8.2 Letter size7 8.2.1 Lettering.7 8.2.2 Determination of safe viewing distance .7 8.2.3 Signal word letter height 7 9 Sign and label placement.7 9.1 Location.7 9.2 Protection8 10 Expected life and maintenance8 ANSI Z535.4-2007 v 10.1 Expected life8 10.2 Product user instructions 8 10.2.1 Maintenance.8 10.2.2 Replacement8 10.2.3 Installation procedure.8 11 Safety symbols.8 11.1 Safety symbols8 11.2 Conveyed message 8 11.3 Safety symbol use.9 12 References.9 12.1 General .9 12.2 American National Standards.9 12.3 Other standards 9 Figures 1 Safety alert symbol.3 2 Three-panel sign horizontal format.10 3 Three-panel sign vertical format .11 4 Three-panel sign horizontal format.11 5 Two-panel sign vertical format11 6 Two-panel sign horizontal format11 7 Two-panel sign Shortened signal word format .11 8 Two-panel sign Side-by-side formats11 9 Three-panel sign Horizontal format with symbol panel on right12 10 Three-panel sign Horizontal format with symbol panel and message panel separated by line12 11 Three-panel sign Horizontal format with symbol panel and message panel separated by white space 12 -,-,- ANSI Z535.4-2007 vi Annexes A Guidelines for Increasing Recognition of Safety Label Components 13 B Principles and Guidelines for the Design of Product Safety Signs and Labels .15 C The use of ISO safety signs for products.24 D Translations of signal words 25 E Risk Estimation and Signal Word Selection 26 F Informative References .33 -,-,- ANSI Z535.4-2007 vii Foreword (Neither this foreword nor any of the informative annexes is a part of American National Standard Z535.4-2007.) In 1979, the ANSI Z53 Committee on Safety Colors was combined with the ANSI Z35 Committee on Safety Signs to form the ANSI Z535 Committee on Safety Signs and Colors. This committee has the following scope: To develop standards for the design, application, and use of signs, colors and symbols intended to identify and warn against specific hazards and for other accident prevention purposes. Five subcommittees were created and assigned the tasks of updating the ANSI Z53 and Z35 Standards, and writing new standards. The five standards include: ANSI Z535.1, Safety Color Code ANSI Z54.1-1979 was updated and combined into this standard in 1991. ANSI Z535.2, Environmental and Facility Safety Sign ANSI Z35.1-1972 and Z35.4-1972 were updated and combined into this standard in 1991. ANSI Z535.3, Criteria for Safety Symbols new in 1991 ANSI Z535.4, Product Safety Signs and Labels new in 1991 ANSI Z535.5, Accident Prevention Tags (For Temporary Hazards) ANSI Z35.2-1974 was updated and combined into this standard in 1991. In 2002 the Z535 Committee changed the title of Z535.5 to: ANSI Z535.5, Safety Tags and Barricade Tapes (for Temporary Hazards). In 2002, the Z535 Committee voted to form a new subcommittee, ANSI Z535.6. The purpose of this new subcommittee is to develop a standard to complement the existing Z535 standards by dealing with various aspects of the provision of safety information in collateral materials. The new standard was published in 2006. ANSI Z535.6, Product Safety Information in Product Manuals, Instructions, and Other Collateral Materials new in 2006 In 2006, the title of Z535.1 was changed to: ANSI Z535.1, Safety Colors. Together, these six standards contain the information needed to specify formats, colors, and symbols for safety signs that are used in environmental and facility applications (Z535.2), for product applications (Z535.4), for temporary accident prevention tags and barricade tapes (Z535.5) and for safety information in product accompanying literature (Z535.6). This standard was prepared by Subcommittee Z535.4 on Product Safety Signs and Labels. This foreword and all of the Annexes are considered to be informative and are not an official part of this standard. In the vocabulary of writing standards, the word “informative” is meant to convey that the information presented is for informational purposes only and is not considered to be mandatory in nature. The body of this standard is “normative”, meaning that this information is considered to be mandatory. This Standard provides guidelines for the design of safety signs and labels for application to products. The core guidelines contained in this standard were initially published in the first edition of this Standard. This first edition became available in 1992. In the 1998 revision, Annex A was added to explain the use of safety label components in collateral material used with the product, and Annex B was added to provide helpful principles and guidelines for the design of product safety signs. ANSI Z535.4-2007 viii In the 2002 revision, Annex C was added to describe the use of ISO formats for product safety signs and labels and Annex D was added to provide translations for signal words. In the 2007 revision, Annex E was added to provide assistance in selecting a signal word and Annex F was created to separate the normative references from the informative references. See the ANSI Z535-2006 Safety Color Chart for the purpose of viewing accurate colors. Due to the differences in color printing technologies and color monitors, the appearance of colors in this document may not be accurate. This standard was processed and approved for submittal to ANSI by the Accredited Standards Committee on Safety Signs and Colors, ANSI Z535. Committee approval of this standard does not necessarily imply that all committee members voted for its approval. At the time it approved this standard, the Z535 Committee had the following members: Gary M. Bell, Chairperson Richard Olesen, Vice Chair Ron Runkles, Acting Secretary Organization Represented: Name of Representative: American Society of Safety Engineers J. Paul Frantz Thomas F. Breshnahan (Alt.) Howard A. Elwell (Alt.) American Welding Society August F. Manz Applied Materials Edward Karl Carl Wong (Alt.) Applied Safety and Ergonomics, Inc. Steven Hall Stephen Young (Alt.) Association for Manufacturing Technology, The David Felinski Association of Equipment Manufacturers Richard A. Dressler Dan Taylor (Alt.) Browning Arms Company Larry D. Nelson Caterpillar, Inc. Sue A. Hooker Mark A. Stephen (Alt.) Clarion Safety Systems, LLC Geoffrey Peckham Jerry Reganess (Alt.) Dorris from sentence structure to typesetting specifications. The length of the word message depends on the amount of information that needs to be communicated to a person to allow them to understand and avoid the hazard. Once this information is determined, it should be written and formatted in a manner that is concise and easily understood. The following are several principles that can be applied to the word message to achieve this objective. B3.3.1 Use headline style Write in a “headline style.” Compare the sample word messages shown below. The “headline style” example eliminates nonessential words and omits pronouns (“this,” “that,” “they,”) articles (“a,” “the,” “an,”) and forms of the verb “to be” (“is,” “are,” “were”). Avoid hyphenation when at all possible. Moving parts can crush and cut. Keep hands clear while operating. Lockout power before servicing. Headline Style Message Moving parts can crush and cut. Keep guard in place. Lockout power before servicing. Non-Headline Style Message This machine has moving parts that can crush and cut. Keep the guard in place while operating this machine. Before servicing is performed, lockout power. Keep out. Hazardous Voltage inside. 440 Volts. ANSI Z535.4-2007 17 B3.3.2 Use active voice Write sentences in the active voice, rather than the passive voice. This means placing the subject of the sentence first, the action (verb) next, and the object (noun) last. Often the subject “you” or “your” can be inferred from the sentence and is unnecessary. B3.3.3. Avoid prepositional phrases Avoid the use of prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can often be eliminated or replaced with one word. B3.3.4 Refer to another source Keep only essential hazard-related information in the product safety sign. If necessary, consideration can be given to referring the viewer to another source f