Safety labels: What to put in them, how to write them, and where to place them

The author considers the creation of safety labels. Standards developed by organizations such as the American National Standards Institute and the Westinghouse Electric Corporation can help technical writers design effective safety labels. According to such standards, safety labels should contain a signal word, a hazard alert symbol, a specific color, a symbol or pictograph, a hazard identification, a description of the result of ignoring the warning, and a description of how to avoid the hazard. In addition, the safety label should be clear, concise, forceful, descriptive, and well-organized. Safety labels usually should be placed in the operator manual and on the product, and they should appear before the operator encounters the hazard. Considerations involved with this placement include reading distance, viewing angle, and available space on the product.