Does your product have the potential to cause harm? Maybe you spent a lot of time outlining all the proper procedures on correct usage in the owner’s manual, but if you didn’t put the proper warning labels on the product, the next call you get may be from a lawyer.
In today’s litigious society, it seems almost impossible to fully protect your company from lawsuits. Even in cases where the person was obviously not using his or her best judgment, the manufacturer or provider can often be held at fault for failing to warn of potential danger. When a spilled cup of hot coffee brings a multi-million dollar windfall, is it even possible to increase your chances for a successful defense?
“There are a variety of checklists to identify potential hazards,” says Kenneth Ross, a partner with the law firm of Minneapolis-based Bowman and Brooke. “You need to assess the risk of injury to a person during the foreseeable use of the product.”
Identified hazards should be designed out of the product if possible. If that can’t be done, you need to take a look at the probability of a hazard occurring. Those identified as having more than a minuscule risk should have a label developed for them.
“There are a lot of stupid warning labels out there, mainly because someone comes up with some bizarre potential hazard and slaps a warning label on their product out of extreme caution,” says Ross. “There are way too many warning labels out there. More significant hazards are being obliterated because there are too many warnings on products.”
With too many warnings, you can cause sensory overload,” says Ross. “If warnings are all over the product and there is duplication and no coordination, someone may be able to argue that they couldn’t see the warning because there were simply too many.”
When in doubt, put more warnings on rather than less, because no company has yet been held liable for having too many.
Label standards
A good starting point for designing a label is the American National Standards Institute’s Z535 standard. This standard gives you a good idea of what a label should look like, though it doesn’t tell you how to word the warning or what pictures should be used.
“It doesn’t tell you where to place it and speaks only in vague terms,” says Ross. “For example, regarding how big the label should be, it says something like ‘place it so the label can be viewed at a safe distance.’ That could be 10 feet for one product, and two feet for another, while on others, distance doesn’t matter at all. You can be in compliance with the standard and still have terrible warning labels.”
But if the labels are at least in compliance with the ANSI standard, it can significantly improve the chances of winning any case brought against your company.
You should also check with your trade group, which may have more specific standards designed for your industry. If there aren’t specific pictorials recommended by your industry association, ANSI does have a list for the most common hazards to save you from having to invent your own.
Pictures are not mandatory, but can be helpful, especially if your product is sold in areas where there are non-English speaking consumers or if the product is sold overseas.
“The courts have generally said that labels do not need to be multilingual,” notes Ross. “You have no legal duty to have more than English on your labels.”
Pictures can also help people who are illiterate, regardless of language, understand potential dangers.
Labels are expected to survive a reasonable amount of time in the environment in which they operate. Sometimes metal plates may be required in place of a decal, especially when the equipment is exposed to harsh weather conditions.
“The law doesn’t make labels last forever,” notes Ross, “but you need to make them of materials consistent with their use. What you should do is put in the instruction manual a routine maintenance list that includes checking for the warning labels. The manual should show what the labels look like and where they go, along with the part numbers someone could use to order new ones.”
Ross recommends the following safety label development procedure:
• Identify hazard, consequences of not avoiding the hazard, probability and severity of the injury and how to avoid the hazard.
• Select appropriate signal word using definitions in ANSI or other applicable standard.
• Determine whether there is a readily available symbol or pictorial that depicts the hazard, the consequence of not avoiding the hazard and possibly how to avoid the hazard. If one is not available, decide whether a new symbol or pictorial needs to be developed and possibly tested.
• Write message panel. Include hazard, consequences of not avoiding, probability and severity of injury and avoidance procedures. Determine whether any testing of the message is appropriate. Consider proper location of label on product.
• Determine appropriate size of print and label and decide whether to use a vertical or horizontal format.
• Confirm location and decide on type of label material and how to attach label to product.
• Have label produced. Consider incorporating this new label into an existing or future instruction manual. Also, consider whether to undertake a safety label upgrade program for products already in the field.