Our Services

Product Warnings

How do you measure the success of your product warning?

• For some, it is measured by exception--the absence of a major failure.
• For some, it is measured by simply complying with government regulations.
• For others, it is the simple longevity of a product line.

For Averture, the success of a product warning is measured by the engineering infrastructure supporting the product, whether the product's hazards have been identified and reduced, and the warning's ability to communicate about remaining hazards.

Warnings labels are best when they are short, effective communications about the hazards inherent in the product. U.S. and European manufacturers are required by law to warn about hazards in their products and provide instructions about their safe use. Averture lawyers have a credible depth of experience with many product lines and in creating warnings for many products.

Warning labels are just one part of your company's overall hazard communication program. We prepare these communications with you and your internal risk management team and integrate your product's instructions, owner's manual, marketing statements, and material safety data sheets into a uniform message. We analyze regulations, industry standards, legal research, and your own institutional knowledge to understand and establish each product's foreseeable use.

Are your warnings successful? Ask for a simple, project-based warnings evaluation. Contact us at averture@aveture.net or call our Main Office.

Hazard Communications

Your engineer and your lawyer.

Hazard Communications require an integrated program that analyzes a product's raw materials and their health hazards, including information about hazards from chemical exposure. U.S. product sellers must have a program that identifies specific hazards associated with a product and complies with OSHA's 29 CRF 1910.1200, and European Union product sellers must meet new EU standards, including compliance with its chemicals policy, the Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH). Both regulations require the identification and control of carcinogens, toxins, and irritants causing certain blood, neurological, and pulmonary illnesses.

Your hazard communication program must capture data from the most recent medical and scientific studies and fold it into your communication with downstream users to achieve regulatory compliance and to instruct about genuine safe use and hazard protection. Beyond a literature review, certain products must be tested to evaluate their toxicology. Consistent data must be communicated in warning labels, proper guidance given in instructions, and the identification of threshold limit values and permissible exposure limits through regulatory and industry standards. Products sold in California must comply with its Prop 65 regulation.

Such a program need not be cumbersome or overwhelming. You likely already have internal resources that form the infrastructure of a program. The chore is integrating your program to accomplish regulatory compliance, effective communication to downstream users, and liability protection for your product. It requires a multi-disciplinary approach. It must combine your scientific data with skilled legal analysis. It must marry your engineer to your lawyer.

Averture. We understand this integration and have experience building on your own resources to accomplish a comprehensive, effective hazard communication program. We have guided manufacturers in preparing OSHA and REACH-compliant safety data sheets, hazard determination analyses, benchmarks for state of the art determinations, and compliance with regulations and industry standards. We have located and included numerous outside engineering disciplines when necessary and have worked with many different product lines.

Averture. We combine your resources to protect your company.