Improving
Instructional Material —
Using the ANSI Z535.6 Standard
by
James Rhoads, CPCU, CSP, ALCM, CPSI
|
James
Rhoads, CPCU, CSP, ALCM, CPSI, is a senior consultant with
PMA Management Corp., a third party administrator and risk control
service provider, based in Blue Bell, Pa. He works extensively
with self-insured and captive clients in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. |
“The difference between the almost right word and the right word is
really a large matter — ’tis the difference between the lightning bug
and the lightning.”
— Samuel L. Clemens
Since 1991, product manufacturers have had clear guidance from the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI), by way of the Z535 series, on the
design of warning and safety labels. This has led to uniformity in safety
labeling and guidance for the courts when these standards were not followed
and manufacturers did not comply with their “duty to warn” obligations.
The same, however, has not been true for instruction manuals and other
“collateral material,” which is the printed information that accompanies
a product in all its forms. As a result, product safety manuals have
varied dramatically from company to company, in both presentation and
organization. In past years, some well-intentioned manufacturers tried
to adapt the warning label guidance into their instructional material,
with mixed results — the Z535.4 standard was not meant for materials
that could vary significantly in content and length. Today’s instructional
manuals can come in the form of a booklet, a single sheet of paper, or
a compact disc or DVD.
Additionally, there was a need to establish consistency with the wording
and approach of the other Z535 standards. In response, ANSI adopted a
standard in 2006, designated ANSI Z535.6, which gives guidance and substance
to writers of product safety and instruction manuals.
The New Standard for Manuals
ANSI Z535.6 distinguishes labels from collateral materials — manuals,
pamphlets and booklets, single sheets of paper, and electronic documents
and media. It also differentiates messages involving personal safety
from those that address only property damage, a distinction that was
made in the original ANSI Z535.4 standards on warning labels.
Additionally, ANSI Z535.6 incorporates guidelines for the use of safety
alert symbols and signal words, consistent with those for labeling. Safety
alert symbols and signal words are intended to call attention to a safety
message or messages, as well as to designate a degree or level of hazard
seriousness. The signal words established in the earlier Z535 standards
are:
-
DANGER — Imminently
hazardous situation, which, if not avoided, will result in death or
serious injury.
-
WARNING — A potentially
hazardous situation, which, if not avoided, could result in death
or serious injury.
-
CAUTION — Potentially
hazardous situation, which, if not avoided, may result in minor or
moderate injury.
-
NOTICE — Situations
not related to personnel injury; also used for situations of potential
property damage.
NOTICE is the preferred signal word to address practices not related
to personal injury. Safety alert symbols are not to be used with this
signal word. As an alternative, the word CAUTION, without the safety
alert symbol, may be used to indicate a message not related to personal
injury.
Where a safety alert symbol is used, signal words or pictorials may be
used to clarify, supplement or substitute for a portion of all or part
of a safety message. The message the reader gets should describe the
type of hazard, potential consequences of the hazard and avoidance actions
to be taken.
ANSI Z535.6 organizes the safety messages that are typically found in
collateral materials into four categories, and then provides guidelines
for the purpose, content, format and location of each.
These four types of messages are as follows:
-
Supplemental
Directives. They direct users to other pertinent safety information and make them
aware of the document’s safety-related contents and their importance
— for example, “Read all instructions before use to avoid injury.”
Recommended formats use the safety alert symbol and, where appropriate,
assign signal words.
-
Grouped Safety
Messages. They are presented in their own separate
section or in a separate document, are clearly labeled as “Safety Information”
or “Safety Manual,” and are assembled in one area. They do not require
use of signal words and the safety alert symbols to distinguish them
from other information.
-
Section Safety
Messages. They apply to an entire section of a document.
They are typically located at the beginning of a section and accompanied
by a safety alert symbol or a signal word panel to provide the user with
the necessary safety information. At the same time, with the information
segregated from the main body of text, users can more easily read and
understand the instructions or procedures. Also, needless repetition
is avoided.
-
Embedded Safety
Messages. They are integrated into the main body of
text along with nonsafety information. The new standard gives companies
the flexibility to use signal words, the safety alert symbol and consistently
applied font variations (or no special formatting at all if the content
and context of the message clearly distinguishes safety information).
Property damage messages do not have the same requirements as do safety
messages and do not have a specific format mandated. There are, however,
restrictions on what safety message formats may be used with property
damage messages. For example, when a signal word is used for property
damage only, the message NOTICE may be used. Alternatively, CAUTION,
without the safety alert symbol, may also be used. Property damage messages
must be clearly distinguished from safety messages by the use of meaningful
headlines, subheadings or other distinguishing features.
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