Warning Label Research

Corporations today are forced to confront the issue of proper warning communication not only to prevent accidents and deaths, but also to defend them from possible litigation.

During the past 20 years, Dr. Gerald Goldhaber has emerged as one of the nation's leading safety warning communication experts. His work in this area includes implementing product warnings, package inserts, and owner instruction manuals. Dr. Goldhaber has been involved with over 180 lawsuits dealing with the issue of warnings, and has written numerous research articles on the subject of effective warning labels.

Dr. Goldhaber's safety warnings have protected many of the leading corporations in the world, including 18 of the top 100 U.S manufacturing companies. Among his clients are such companies as: Chrysler, Ford Motor, GMC, Kawasaki, Philip Morris, Motorola, Nabisco, E.I. du Pont de Nemour, Playtex, S.C Johnson and Son, Inc., and Sears.

The product warning services offered by Dr. Goldhaber typically fall into one of two categories. These include helping a company or industry defend their existing system of warning labels/manuals, or helping a company or industry test and develop new warnings or safety communications.

Warning Label Defense

Dr. Goldhaber utilizes various methods to develop a defense for existing warning labels based on his vast experience in the field and extensive in-depth research. This research is comprised of both secondary research and custom-designed research studies, which are designed, conducted, and analyzed by GRA's professional staff.

When the tobacco industry was forced to defend their pre-1966 packaging, which did not include a warning label, Dr. Goldhaber was hired as a consultant and potential expert witness. Tire companies and swimming pool companies are also among the many who have hired Dr. Goldhaber to defend their current labels.

Testing and Development

The design of your warning label could make the difference between safe successful products and a flawless reputation, or costly and damaging injuries and lawsuits.

GRA has the experience and capacity to design and test a warning label for your product. We will custom-design research to meet your specific warning label design and testing needs. Most of our testing is done on-site under circumstances that enable us to accurately assess the effectiveness of different types of warning labels on people in real-life situations.

One of the many companies that have hired GRA to test and develop new warnings is Playtex. Dr. Goldhaber helped Playtex determine the most effective method for communicating the FDA mandated TSS (toxic shock syndrome) warning. Owens Corning Fiberglass hired Dr. Goldhaber to test and develop a new warning program for all of their fiberglass wool products, and Dr. Goldhaber also designed and evaluated consumer warning labels for 7-Up.