New editions of ANSI standards for warnings

The ANSI Z535 series of standards related to provision of safety information underwent several changes and revisions as of September 2011, which are published in the 2011 editions. These changes include a new signal word category for safety instructions; a new definition of the signal word “NOTICE” updated definitions for the basic safety terms “harm,” “incident,” and “accident” a modification of signal word letter height requirements to accommodate product safety signs with limited space; harmonization of the Z535.2 and Z535.4 standards for purposes of consistency; and other, minor changes. Along with these revisions, the Z535 committee also discussed the provision of safety information via electronic media and agreed to consider addressing this issue. ANSI Z535.4 subcommittee chairman Steve Hall will report on these updates and the Z535 committee's most recent activities at the IEEE Symposium on Product Compliance Engineering in November 2012.