Part of product safety is to avoid or minimize the risk of injury.  Simply put, the hierarchy of effectiveness is “design, guard, warn”. If a risk or hazard cannot be designed out of a product it should be guarded. If it cannot be reasonably designed out and the guard hinders the utility of the product/machine, effective warnings should be added to the product/machine. ANSI standards exist that establish colors and language/words used to convey the warning. By failing to install guards or not heeding warnings, the user circumvents the product safety designed into the machine by the engineer.

For warnings to be effective they must be heeded.  Some machines or products have intrinsic hazards that cannot be easily designed or guarded. For example, a knife has a sharp edge, a pointed pair of scissors creates a puncture hazard.  Training is a common method to educate users of hazardous machinery in an industrial setting, but does not occur when it is a consumer product. Warnings are more common on consumer products but can be installed on industrial products/machinery.

If you represent a manufacturer, distributor, are in the stream of commerce; or represent an injured party, contact us for a professional engineering and safety evaluation.

Contact us here or call: 1-800-624-0905.

Gary L. Jackson P.E., CSP. CFEI
Senior Consulting and Forensic Engineer