ANSI Z535 sets the design and application standards for all HazCom used across North America and globally, in most industrialized nations.

ANSI Z535 standards are described in the following individual instruction books for six specific HazCom categories:[1] American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) work side-by-side to manage Hazardous Communications (HazCom) in all American workplaces.

These newer standards also helped define specific hazards that could harm workers, the public, or both and/or cause damage to property.

In a 2013 public letter to NEMA/ANSI, OSHA says it is actively working to incorporate ANSI's latest Z535 standards into its HazCom design references.

This committee is a highly active United States standards-making body that writes these standards to govern the characteristics of visual safety markings that are used to warn about hazards and prevent accidents.

As of 2020, the chair of the committee is Steven M. Hall, Senior Consultant, Applied Safety + Ergonomics in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The ANSI Z535 standard series is continually improved and refined based on human factors, research, and court case precedents.

[14] The ANSI Z535 standards are often cited in U.S. court decisions as the state-of-the-art benchmark against which safety markings and their adequacy are judged.