We attended the 2013 Tulsa Boat Show on Wednesday afternoon January 30, 2013. Following up on our 2012 post on Propeller Warning Labels at the Tulsa Boat Show, once again, Lora and I walked around and photographed propeller warning labels / decals. Once again we were surprised at the variety of decals and warnings.
Lora quickly noted we were seeing a lot more decals at the stern than at last years show. While some boat still had no labels of any kind at the stern, many boats had numerous warning labels displayed.
While we plan of further discussing the trend in a separate post, rearward facing seats at the swim platform were almost ubiquitous on large and midsize boats. Many of those vessels have a decal / warning label telling you not to ride in those seats when underway or when the engine is running.
We also plan to create a separate post on the industry’s continued disregard for the ANSI Z-535 warning standard. While many boats, drives, and accessories (especially wake boarding accessories) screamed their styling influences, it is obvious those talented individuals were not assigned to designing ANSI Z-535 warning labels. Few if any warning would actually meet the standard and we saw some labels/warnings that were obviously a last minute thought.
In addition to propeller warnings and rearward facing seat warnings, many boats now have one or more fueling warnings at the stern AND many now have a “No E-15″ warning at the stern as well. Among other labels we saw back there were “Made in the USA”, NMMA Certified, carbon monoxide warning, trademarks and patented stickers, check outboard mounting bolt tightness, swim platform warnings, ladder capacity warnings, toe eye notice, falling warnings, don’t step here warnings, water jet outlet and intake warnings, warning to read the manual and instructions, power steering warnings, ethanol warnings (E-85), ladder use warnings, and a warning against over trimming or tilting.
We also noted the comical placement of some labels (impossible to view when you need to heed them).
The comments below are our quick observations of some of the variety seen in propeller warning labels at a single boat show. Our comments also identify some of the challenges specific warning labels have with ANSI Z535.4 – 2011 (the American National Standards Institute warning standard). Note, the industry may claim ABYC T-5 Safety Signs and Labels applies. ABYC’s web site says it was last revised in 2002. The January 15-16, 2013 ABYC PTC Meeting minutes report Product Technical Committee discussing the status of T-5. It opens with, “Is this standard still relevant?”
Although we also saw several propeller warning labels identical to the ones we saw at the 2012 Tulsa Boat Show, we did not rephotograph them. The only ones we show below are those new to our sample of propeller safety related labels in 2013.
We will briefly discuss the warning standard (ANSI Z535.4), begin with the propeller warning labels, then move to other warnings that are also relevant to propeller safety. Read More→
