What goes wrong

The label failed

On this page8

Too small for the panel Crowded Rotated Low contrast And the label the product destroyed Name the contents when you brief the printer Re-check the label whenever the container changes References

Four of the five ways this goes wrong are decisions somebody made on purpose, for good design reasons.

Too small for the panel

The type size bands change at 2, 5, 10, 15 and 30 square inches. A move to a smaller bottle that keeps the same artwork walks straight into the next band down without anything looking different.

Crowded

The cautionary block has to be separated on all sides from other printed or graphic matter. Tightening the layout to fit one more selling line is the usual cause, and it is a violation rather than a near miss.

Rotated

Lines run generally parallel to the base the package rests on. Vertical type up the side of a bottle is a common and attractive choice, and it does not satisfy this.

Low contrast

Black on dark blue is the cited example. Any choice made to keep the warning from dominating the package is a candidate for this failure, because that is precisely the intent the rule is written against.

And the label the product destroyed

A solvent finish that runs down the outside gets under the edge, and the adhesive chosen for a dry product gives up. A warning that has lifted or gone cloudy is no longer conspicuous, which turns a cosmetic problem into a labeling one.

Name the contents when you brief the printer

Not the bottle. "An HDPE packer" tells them nothing; "a solvent-borne varnish that will be handled with wet hands" tells them which face stock and which adhesive to quote.

Re-check the label whenever the container changes

Panel area, curvature, substrate and what runs down the outside all change with the bottle. The label is compliant for a container, not for a product.

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

The Davis Pack Supply resin chart, derived from C&P’s own published ratings across 2,150 SKUs and held as <code>material_property</code>: chemical resistance and a service temperature range per material. Glass rates High at 5 of 5 and runs -100 to 300F; PP, HDPE, PET, LDPE, PVC, phenolic and urea rate Good at 4 of 5; PS rates Semi at 2 of 5. The temperature ranges differ sharply even within the same rating, PET topping out at 120F against HDPE’s 190F and PP’s 240F.

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.