Warning Label

As our study has shown that already rather weak stray fields can harm archival tapes and that these values are within the range exhibited by equipment used in a studio, it would seem wise to have some safeguard against any “magnetic accidents”.

We propose, therefore, to establish a new warning label to be attached to any piece of equipment liable to emit stray magnetic fields, similar to the well-known radioactivity warning label. It should show a universally understood symbol for a magnet and should indicate the nature of the field, AC or DC, and give the worst-case 5 Oe-distance or enveloping radius in mm.