What are the role and scope of the ANSI Z535 standards?
These standards provide a uniform and systematic approach for the visual layout of safety signs, labels, tags, barricade tapes and now also safety messages found in instructional materials such as owners’ manuals, assembly instructions, use and care guides, etc. A uniform system provides the best opportunity for maximum recognition and understanding of important safety information. When it began its work in the late 1970s, the ANSI Z535 ASC found very little graphic consistency between safety signs and labels in use at the time. Different signs or labels that addressed the same hazard could be found in the marketplace, but they looked totally different by virtue of their color, text layout, use of symbols and choice of signal words. These inconsistencies would become a problem in an era when the reliance on “warnings” was increasing. For example, early research showed that just changing the primary color of a safety sign or label from red to yellow would give the impression that the ha
