Actio Corporation Delivering Critical Real-Time Web Based HazCom Labeling Solution With Brady Worldwide Partnership.

Business/Technology Editors

HAMPTON, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2001

Strategic Partnership Unites Industrial Information

Management Specialists

Actio Corporation, the leading provider of information management for regulatory compliance, announced today its strategic partnership with global labeling leader, Brady Worldwide.

The agreement enables the first real-time, web-based, up-to-date HazCom labeling solution driven from information contained in material safety data sheets.

"This partnership strengthens Actio's positioning as the one access solution for web based MSDS information and regulatory report management," stated Russ McCann, President and co-founder of Actio Corporation.

"Our customers need a complete, high-performance, multi-service system. They provide the benchmark for safety within this industry and are unwilling to compromise that standard at any time," McCann continued. "Expanding the periphery of our HazCom information management is both a natural extension and critical duality in HazCom provider success."

To this end, McCann explained that by providing a regulatory information stream from Actio Corporation's proprietary IntelligenTEXT(TM) MSDS to Brady's label creation software, Codesoft(TM), the partnership has produced a transparent, web-based solution that automatically recognizes and routes the requisite hazardous material information from the MSDS to the label. The result is synchronous information between the MSDS and its corresponding label; thereby ensuring any changes made to the MSDS are conveyed on the chemical container. This represents a seamless connection between a company's chemical list, their MSDS library and the labels on their secondary packaging. This translates into savings for chemical manufacturers and consumers burdened by HazCom issues.

Under the Hazardous Communication Act (29 CFR 1910.1200), OSHA mandates that the "transmittal of information is to be accomplished by means of comprehensive hazard communication programs, which are to include container labeling and other forms of warning, material safety data sheets and employee training". By streamlining the regulatory compliance issues associated with chemical distribution, Actio Corporation allows its customers to benefit from an enhanced procurement process that delivers the most up-to-date HazCom information to their workers and associated down-stream clientele.

Actio Corporation's MSDS Vault is the foundation for the labeling solution, maintaining the customer's MSDSs in a secure web based environment, while providing them with a low-cost MSDS management service that sources, manages and automatically revises manufacturer MSDS for a fraction of the cost of doing it internally. Now companies can alleviate the compliance burden while having a real-time, manufacturer based MSDS library seamlessly integrated into their corporate intranet. Founded in 1996, Actio Corporation is the leading Internet provider of information management for regulatory compliance.

Brady Corporation is a world leader in complete identification solutions, with products including high-performance labels, signs, precision die-cut materials, printing systems, software, and label-application and data-collection systems for manufacturing, electrical, electronics, telecommunications and a variety of other markets. Founded in 1914, Brady is headquartered in Milwaukee and employs more than 3,100 people in the United States, Europe, Asia/Pacific, Latin America and Canada. Its fiscal 2000 sales were $541 million.