The hazard label

The block on the front panel

On this page9

What goes in it Separated on all sides Parallel to the base The rest can go elsewhere, with a pointer Which is why it is a container decision Design the block first Small containers are the hard case This is separate from the art material labeling References

It is a rectangle of reserved space on the front of the package, and the design has to be built around it.

What goes in it

The signal word, the statement of the principal hazard or hazards, and the instruction to read the other cautions. Those three are blocked together within a square or rectangular area on the principal display panel.

Separated on all sides

The cautionary statements are separated on all sides from other printed or graphic matter, by a border or by space. A warning set flush against the product name is not compliant even if every word is correct.

Parallel to the base

The lines run generally parallel to whatever base the package rests on in retail display. A warning rotated to run up the side of a bottle for design reasons fails this, and bottles are exactly where that temptation arises.

The rest can go elsewhere, with a pointer

Cautionary material that does not fit on the principal display panel is grouped together on another panel, and the principal panel carries a reference telling the reader where to look, naming the panel.

Which is why it is a container decision

A rectangle of reserved space at a regulated type size, surrounded by clear space, on the front of the package, is a measurable area. Some bottles on this shelf cannot carry it alongside a product name and a brand. That is knowable with a ruler before anything is ordered.

Design the block first

Lay out the cautionary block at the correct size for the panel you intend to use, then design the rest of the label in what remains. Every other order ends with the warning being shrunk, moved or crowded, and all three of those are the violation.

Small containers are the hard case

The shelf starts at 5 mL. A 5 mL container has very little principal display panel, and the type size minimum does not scale away to nothing; it bottoms out at 3/64 inch for the signal word.

This is separate from the art material labeling

LHAMA decides what the chronic hazard labeling says. This decides how any cautionary labeling is laid out. A product can owe both, and they are satisfied by different work.

References

16 CFR 1500.121, the placement and conspicuousness rules for hazardous substance labeling. The signal word, the statement of principal hazard and the instruction to read other cautions are "blocked together within a square or rectangular area" on the principal display panel and "separated on all sides from other printed or graphic matter"; type size is set by panel area; signal word and hazard statement are in capitals with a letter height to width ratio no greater than 3 to 1; and cautionary material "obscured or rendered inconspicuous" misbrands the product. law.cornell.edu

16 CFR 1500.14(b)(8), the art materials provision implementing the Labeling of Hazardous Art Materials Act. It makes the labeling requirements of ASTM D-4236 a Commission regulation, effective 18 November 1990, requires that "the producer or repackager of art materials shall submit art material product formulation(s) or reformulation(s) to a toxicologist for review", and sets the conformance statements a compliant label carries. law.cornell.edu

The Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 17 October 2026. The adhesive and finish shelf is 664 rows: 234 containers and 430 closures, derived from two packaging archetypes across six leaves, with cr_required set on every one of them.

Written from 16 CFR 1500.14(b)(8), 1500.121 and 1700.14, and from the catalog as it stood on 17 October 2026. Whether a particular product is an art material, what its chronic hazard labeling should say, and whether its closure must be child resistant are determinations about a specific formula; the first of those is a question for a toxicologist by regulation, and nothing here substitutes for one.