Standards FAQ: Formats
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
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.
For more information: Can I use the ISO symbol-only formats in the U.S.? |
All Clarion safety labels