Not to be serviced by users
Servicing the marked equipment by users is prohibited.
Understanding this sign
Red circular signs with a diagonal bar identify an action that must not be taken in the marked area.
Check what object or action the symbol prohibits. A prohibition sign does not identify all the hazards in an area.
The Pictogram Behind 'No User-Serviceable Parts Inside'
ISO 7010 P069 prohibits users from servicing the marked product, giving graphic form to a phrase printed on electronics for decades: no user-serviceable parts inside. The pictogram — a wrench over a device, struck through — appears on equipment housings, sealed access panels, and in the safety pages of instruction manuals. Its message is that opening, repairing, or adjusting the internals is reserved for qualified service personnel, and that everything the user legitimately needs is reachable without tools or behind panels intended for them.
P069 marks products whose interiors stay dangerous even when the device seems off: power supplies and capacitors that hold charge after unplugging, mains wiring, laser modules inside otherwise harmless enclosures, high-intensity lamp circuits, pressurized or spring-loaded assemblies. It appears on consumer electronics, chargers and adapters, medical and laboratory devices, and industrial components alike. The enclosure is part of the safety design, and the label says so.
Safety Rationale Versus Warranty Rationale
Two different motives put this label on products, and they deserve separating. The safety rationale is genuine hazard: product-safety standards distinguish between ordinary users and skilled or instructed persons — IEC 62368-1, which governs audio, video, and IT equipment, is built around exactly this distinction — and construct enclosures so that hazardous energy sources are inaccessible to the ordinary user. P069 flags the boundary of that protection.
The warranty rationale is commercial: manufacturers also use servicing prohibitions to steer repairs into authorized channels. Right-to-repair rules emerging in several jurisdictions push back on the commercial motive, but they do not change the physics behind the safety one. A microwave oven's high-voltage capacitor or a stored-energy power supply can injure someone long after the plug is pulled, whoever is legally entitled to open the case.
What Users May Do, and Who May Do the Rest
A P069 label does not forbid all interaction with the product. Manuals distinguish user maintenance — cleaning exteriors, replacing accessible fuses, filters, batteries, or lamps via designated hatches — from servicing, which involves opening the protective enclosure or working on internal circuits. Anything the manual assigns to the user remains permitted; the prohibition covers everything beyond it, including 'quick looks' inside a housing that will not power on.
Servicing belongs to persons with the training, documentation, and test equipment the manufacturer expects: authorized repair centers or technicians qualified for the energy sources involved. In workplaces this maps onto electrical-competence requirements — an employer letting untrained staff open equipment marked P069 is bypassing both the product's safety case and, in most jurisdictions, its own electrical safety duties.
Where you will see P069
It appears on equipment housings, sealed access panels, and manual safety pages across consumer electronics, chargers and power adapters, medical and laboratory devices, and industrial components. Products with capacitors that hold charge after unplugging, mains wiring, enclosed laser modules, high-intensity lamp circuits, or pressurized and spring-loaded assemblies are the typical carriers, and in workplaces the label maps onto electrical-competence rules that keep untrained staff from opening the enclosure.
Common questions about P069
What does the P069 no-servicing symbol on a device mean?
That the user must not open, repair, or adjust the product's internals — servicing is reserved for qualified technicians. The enclosure keeps hazards such as mains voltage, charged capacitors, or internal laser sources away from ordinary users, and it forms part of the product's certified safety design.
Why is opening electronics dangerous even when they're unplugged?
Capacitors in power supplies and appliances like microwave ovens can store a hazardous charge long after disconnection, and other stored-energy parts — springs, pressurized components — remain live in their own way. Enclosures are designed so ordinary users never meet these sources; opening the case removes that protection without the training or tools to manage what is inside.
Does a no-user-servicing label mean I can't change the batteries or fuse?
No. Tasks the manual assigns to users — replacing batteries, accessible fuses, filters, or lamps through designated compartments — are user maintenance, not servicing, and stay permitted. The prohibition starts where the protective enclosure does: anything requiring you to open the housing or reach internal circuitry is for qualified service personnel.
Is the servicing ban about safety or just protecting warranties?
Both motives exist. Standards such as IEC 62368-1 genuinely require hazardous internals to be inaccessible to ordinary users, which is the safety case for the label. Manufacturers also use it to channel repairs into authorized networks, which right-to-repair rules increasingly challenge — but legal access to the inside of a device does not make its stored energy any less real.
Reference details
| Symbol code | P069 |
|---|---|
| Sign family | ISO Prohibition Signs |
| Standard reference | ISO 7010:2019 / ISO 3864-1 ISO Online Browsing Platform: P069 |
| Screen color reference | #FF0000. Screen colors are not a production color specification. |
| Download formats | SVG reference artwork; a 1024 × 1024 pixel PNG conversion on a white canvas. |
| Record date | · How to interpret our dates |
| Page updated |
Choosing a physical sign size
Download dimensions are not installation dimensions. Select sign size, material, placement, and lighting using the applicable standard and the actual viewing conditions. Chemical label sizing follows its own rules. Read the artwork and sizing guide.
Sources and artwork credits
- Artwork source
- Wikimedia Commons file page
- Creator credited by source
- ISO
- License
- Public domain
- Source metadata checked
SVG files are local reference copies. PNG files are raster conversions. Check the linked file history and license terms before reuse; a source-metadata check is not certification of the artwork or a workplace installation.
Report a correction to this reference
