TS ISO 3864-2

TS ISO 3864-2 is the product-focused part of the graphical symbols and safety colours family, setting out additional principles for the design of product safety labels. It complements ISO 3864-1 by defining the general design approach for labels applied to goods manufactured and offered for sale in the normal course of commerce, from consumer products to industrial equipment.

What a product safety label is meant to do

In general technical terms, a product safety label is a visual communication device intended to alert people to a specific hazard and to indicate how that hazard can be avoided. Colour, shape, symbols and wording work together; the aim is not only to attract attention but also to make the warning meaning consistent and easy to recognise across different products and use cases. That is why the ISO 3864 family supports a common visual logic for safety messages.

Scope and boundaries of this part

• The standard provides additional design principles to ISO 3864-1 for product safety labels.
• Its scope covers any items manufactured and offered for sale in the normal course of commerce.
• Consumer products and industrial equipment are explicit examples, but the scope is not limited to them.
• The focus is the label design logic used to warn of a hazard and communicate how to avoid it.
• Graphical symbols, safety colours and sign layout are considered together to support legibility and meaning.

This document is not a user manual; it is a normative standard part for the visual design of safety labels. Where products need warnings that are orderly, consistent and readily recognisable, it provides a common technical language for symbol selection, colour coding and overall label arrangement.