Using Warnings and Instructions to Increase Safety and Reduce Liability

This course explores the intersection of engineering, law, and human behavior in the development of product warnings and instructions. Participants will gain insights into the latest ANSI and ISO standards, legal obligations, and real-world recall strategies. Through expert-led sessions, you'll learn how to evaluate, test, and revise safety communications to protect users and reduce liability.

• Engineers responsible for product design, safety, and compliance.
• Product safety specialists and technical writers who develop or review safety documentation.
• Managers and legal professionals involved in risk mitigation and regulatory strategy.

CLE CREDIT AVAILABLE

The June 2025 course has been approved 16.5 CLE hours.

Although not required, course attendees are encouraged to bring ANSI Z535.4 and ANSI Z535.6 to class.

Session 1: The Latest in the Legal Duty to Warn and Instruct

Cal Burnton, Esq. Program Manager
University of Wisconsin

The warnings and instructions provided by a manufacturer serve to prevent accidents and provide the tools necessary to successfully defend a lawsuit. Yet case law often provides no clear answers on what is required to adequately warn and instruct. Cal Burnton will address the development of, and most recent case law-particularly within the last year, relating to a manufacturer’s duty to provide safety information to users of its products. Among the topics will include:

• What are your legal responsibilities?

• How did we get here and the theories of liability: negligence/strict liability

• Factors in determining whether a duty exists

• Open and obvious hazards and warnings

• Foreseeable/unintended/unforeseeable Misuse

• Modifications of products and their impact on your responsibility

• Adequacy of warnings

• Causation: Did the failure to warn cause the accident?

• Post-sale duties: Warnings/retrofit/recalls

• ANSI Z535 Standards for Manuals

• How to improve your product and organization

This session will give you up-to-date information on recent trends, cases and theories in product liability law.

Session 2: Prioritizing Safety: A Deeper Look into Product Recalls and Consumer Warnings

Dr. Jason Hertzberg, Ph.D. P.E.
Corporate Vice President and Principal Engineer
Materials & Corrosion Engineering
Exponent, Inc.
Chicago, ILDr.

Daniel Palac, Ph. D.
Managing Scientist
Human Factors
Exponent, Inc.
Warrenville, IL

This presentation will address key human factors related issues that can arise after a consumer product enters the market. It will explore how manufacturers address potential product hazards relating to people-product interactions, including guidance that CPSC has provided. Product recalls typically occur when a manufacturer and/or regulatory authority determines that a product poses a risk to consumers’ health or safety, prompting the manufacturer to make product modifications to mitigate the hazard, issue warnings, or remove the product from the marketplace. Warnings, often provided through on-product labeling or in safety bulletins following a product recall, offer critical information about potential hazards, the associated severity, and ways in which consumers can avoid them. Drawing on Dr. Hertzberg’s and Dr. Palac’s extensive experience as consultants in the product recall space, as well as their deep understanding of warnings literature and familiarity with regulatory bodies that oversee product compliance, their presentation seeks to offer valuable insights into the product recall process and its outcomes – with the goal of enhancing the understanding of safety aspects relating to consumer interactions with products.

Session 3: On-Product Warnings: ANSI Z535.4 and ISO 3864-2:

Angela Lambert
Head of Standards Compliance
Clarion Safety Systems (Milford, Pennsylvania)

Chair, ANSI Z535.1 Safety Colors
Liaison Representative for ISO/TC 145 to ISO/TC 283
Member, ANSI Z535 Committee
Member, U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 145
Member, U.S. TAG to ISO/TC 283

“Failure to warn” and “inadequate warnings” continue to top today’s product liability allegations. Angela Lambert will provide an overview of the ANSI Z535.4 and ISO 3864- 2 standards and how they can be used as the foundation for effective labels and instructions. The session will include a discussion on the most recent updates to the standards (including ANSI Z535.4, ANSI Z535.7, and ISO 3864-2) and warnings considerations related to digitalization and automation, as well as a ‘label workshop’ to analyze real-world scenarios.

Session 4: The Future is Now: A New Standard for Digital Warnings and Where We Go From Here

Steve Hall, M.S.E., CPSM
Director, Human Factors
Rimkus Consulting
San Francisco, CA
Chairperson of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535 Committee on Safety Signs

For decades, ANSI Z535 standards have provided guidance for presenting safety information in media such as safety signs, product labels, and, since 2006, product manuals. With evolving technology and connectivity, people - both product users and manufacturers - are increasingly turning to electronic media as another channel for finding or providing product information. This webinar introduces the new ANSI Z535.7, the American National Standard for Product Safety Information in Electronic Media, and also addresses some considerations of presenting safety information in electronic media that go beyond the standard.

Session 5: Developing Warnings and Instructions for Product Safety

Mark Hickok, MS, CPSP, CFEI
Vice President, Safety and Regulatory
Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation

Mark Hickok will provide a real world and practical approach for developing instructions and warnings. He will provide guidance of key areas for consideration while creating product materials, and how to integrate product safety into your business's product development processes and the product’s life cycle. The importance of a culture of safety at every step of the manufacturing process will be highlighted. The session will cover:

• Integrating product safety into your product line

• Warning and Instruction Development considerations

• Practical considerations in the development of warnings and instructions

Having adequate and effective warnings and instructions is no easy task. This session will provide the keys to drafting communications to meet a company’s duty to warn. It’s a how-to course you won’t want to miss.

Session 6: You’ve Been Warned! – How Injured Consumers Win Their Product Liability Claims (Sometimes)

Andrew J. Schwaba
Schwaba Law Firm
Charlotte, North Carolina
Green Bay, Wisc.

Mr. Schwaba will provide an overview of product liability litigation and failure to warn claims from a Plaintiff’s lawyer’s perspective, focusing on testing, audience targeting, problematic language, and proper formatting of product warnings.

Session 7: Considerations for Evaluating Warnings and Instructions

Jared Franz
Senior Consultant
Rimkus
Ann Arbor, Michigan

A manufacturer has more than the duty to warn; it must adequately warn with effective safety instructions and warnings. There are many ways in which safety information can be evaluated – how can you choose what works for you? Jared Frantz will present several evaluation methods and provide insights for what kinds of questions evaluation can help answer. Practical applications will be discussed through case studies.

Session 8: Warnings: How Do Jurors Perceive Them Today?

Susan G. Fillichio, Esq.
Fillichio & Hastings, Inc.
Strategic Consulting and Jury Research | Visual Communications | Presentation
TechnologyEl Segundo, CA

Susan Fillichio of the trial consulting firm Fillichio & Hastings will share insight into how jurors perceive warnings and warning labels, and what their expectations are of companies in today’s times. Susan will share data from her team’s nationwide research on the topic, discussing how jurors’ expectations have changed over time and strategies to meet those expectations.

"The program is very well-rounded and covers each of the elements of warnings and instructions in a thorough, effective, and interesting manner."

"I'd be hard pressed to say what was best—there was so much useful information, and the outside experts were super."

"Good consistent information throughout the presentations. Everyone had the same message for action by companies for warnings and instruction."

Cal Burnton

Cal Burnton is currently a program manager at the University of Wisconsin and before that represented manufacturers and insurance companies for decades.  He has tried and won numerous complex toxic tort and product liability cases, earning a national reputation for his ability to coordinate, manage, and defend mass toxic tort and complex product liability cases with a special emphasis on high-risk matters involving novel legal, scientific, and environmental theories. His clients have included leading manufacturers and sellers of products such as chemicals, healthcare appliances, toys, medical devices, electrical equipment, firearms, printing presses, industrial machinery, and power tools. Mr. Burnton was a trusted counselor to his clients, advising them on issues regarding product liability, government regulations, product safety, and related matters. Throughout the years, he represented corporate clients in both federal and state courts in almost every state across the country.

Angela Lambert

Angela Lambert has over fifteen years of experience in product safety, warnings, and liability. In her role at Clarion Safety, she collaborates with manufacturers – as well as industry partners and advocates – on labels, signs and markings that can help reduce risk and protect people. That includes having a keen understanding of visual safety communication standards, as well as safety label content/design, color systems and print production. From a standards perspective, Ms. Lambert is actively involved at the leadership level in the ANSI and ISO standards for product safety. She is chair of the ANSI Z535.1 subcommittee, leading the standard that focuses on colors used in visual safety communication. She is also a delegate representative to the ANSI Z535 committee, to the ISO/TC 145 SC2 WG 1 committee (responsible for the library of ISO 7010 registered symbols and the ISO 3864 set of standards), and to ISO/TC 283 (responsible for the ISO 45001 standard). Additionally, she is the liaison for ISO/TC 145 to ISO/TC 283, acting as a bridge between the international safety label/sign standards and workplace health/safety standards.

 Ms. Lambert is also an expert speaker on product safety and visual safety communication at universities and associations across the country. In addition to designing and producing best practice labels and signs, Clarion Safety specializes in guiding its clients through a streamlined process to implement cutting-edge visual safety communication systems in line with today's leading safety standards. The company also provides complementary services for comprehensive machine safety, compliance, and risk reduction – in part through its affiliated business Machine Safety Specialists and Arrow Industrial Solutions. Clarion Safety is a member of the ANSI Z535 Committee for Safety Signs and Colors, the U.S. ANSI TAG to ISO/TC 145, and the U.S. ANSI TAG to ISO 45001.

Mark Hickok

Mark Hickok CPSP, CFEI, is Vice President – Product Safety and Regulatory Compliance for Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation.  He brings over 30 years of product safety experience and has extensive background working in global new product development and leading product safety teams and activities.  His work includes directing the development of warnings and instructions, performing hazard analysis reviews, ensuring compliance with a variety of domestic and international standards and regulations.  He is the current Chair of the ANSI Z535.4 Subcommittee on Product Safety Signs and Labels, a delegate to the ANSI Z535 committee, a member of the Society of Product Safety Professional Board, and additionally serves as a representative to numerous trade associations and standards-making committees.  Mr. Hickok holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Engineering with a focus on ergonomics and biomechanics, both from Marquette.

Jared Frantz

Jared Frantz is a Senior Human Factors Consultant for Applied Safety and Ergonomics, A Rimkus Company. He is a Certified Human Factors Professional who specializes in human factors/ergonomics, warnings, and product and occupational safety. He has extensive experience developing and evaluating warnings and safety symbols for a wide variety of consumer and commercial products and is a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535.4 Subcommittee on Product Safety Signs and Labels and Z535.7 Subcommittee on Product Safety Information in Electronic Media.