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.

• Understand the legal foundations and recent case law shaping the duty to warn and instruct.
• Apply ANSI Z535 and ISO 3864-2 standards to create effective on-product warnings and manuals.
• Evaluate and improve warnings using human factors principles and post-market feedback.

• 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.

The June 2026 course has been approved for 16 CLE credits.

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: Managing Recalls and their Communications for Large, Installed Equipment: Risks, Realities, and Readiness

Chris Harvey

Senior Vice President, Product Innovation & Industry Engagement

Sedgwick

Product recalls involving large, complex, and installed equipment present unique challenges compared to other product categories. Unlike consumer product recalls, these events often originate from isolated field issues and can escalate into prolonged, highly visible efforts that consume significant organizational time, disrupt customer operations, and result in lasting financial, regulatory, and reputational impact.

Equipment deployed in hospitals, factories, energy infrastructure, and other critical environments cannot be easily removed or replaced, while regulators are applying increased scrutiny to how companies identify affected assets, communicate risk, and execute corrective actions across long product lifecycles. This session will examine the evolving recall landscape for large equipment and outline practical steps organizations can take to strengthen preparedness, communications, reduce exposure, and turn recall readiness into a strategic capability.

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: Reputation, Risk and Responsibility: Social Media for Modern Manufacturers
 
Beth PopNikolov
CEO Venveo Inc.
 
Product communication no longer stops at warnings and manuals.  Today, safety messaging also lives on social media, jobsite photos, and customer-generated content.  This session explores how manufacturers can use social media to reinforce safety culture, clarify product use, and manage risk when conversations about their products happen online.

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: From Intake to Verdict: Product Liability Cases From The Perspective of a Plaintiff’s Lawyer
 
Kevin Martin
Martin Law Offices SC
  
During this presentation, you will learn about how a plaintiff’s lawyer analyzes product liability cases from intake to verdict. Topics will include preserving the product after the index incident; spoilation; testing; whether to file suit in State or Federal court; who to sue; discovery; comparative fault; and mock juries. The presenter will draw from real-world experiences on each issue, which includes providing a factual background and application of legal principles. 
 
His practice areas include medical malpractice, long term care negligence, general liability, products liability, and wrongful denial of insurance benefits. 

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: Corporate Messaging and Product Liability in the Age of Nuclear Verdicts
 
Emily Fisher
Trial Behavior Consulting
 The number of “nuclear verdicts” (that is, jury awards over $10 million) have reached record highs in recent years. The increase in high damage numbers have been driven by societal shifts, aggressive plaintiff lawyer tactics, and corporate mistrust and are impacting insurers and businesses across numerous industries. These verdicts are becoming particularly more common in personal injury and product liability cases. Therefore, it is more important than ever for corporations to understand how to combat such claims. During this session, we will discuss in more detail the factors that have led to these changes and identify ways in which companies can protect themselves more effectively.

"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 two decades 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 a member of the ANSI Z535.7 subcommittee, part of a small group of experts championed the development of this new standard, leading to its publication in late 2024. 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

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

Milwaukee Electric Tool Corporation

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 Principal Consultant in the Human Factors Group at Rimkus. 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. Jared also teaches a safety management course in the Industrial and Operations Engineering Department at the University of Michigan.