Every once in a while we get a truly bizarre press release that doesn’t exactly count as news but gets our geek motor running and today we bring you just that.

Konica Minolta has informed us that it has passed the Marine Immersion Test BS 5609, Sections 2 and 3.

Why would a printer need to be submerged in water? Why is that test named so poorly? Why are we telling you this?

So first things first, what is Marine Immersion Test BS 5609?

It establishes standards for how labels perform in marine conditions. So say for instance you are shipping a container filled with jelly beans overseas. During the journey the container which is marked “Tasty Jelly Beans” falls overboard.

Marine Immersion Test BS 5609, tests the printed label to see how it fares under those conditions.

“The regulations are meant to ensure that, for instance, if drums of hazardous chemicals are recovered from the ocean, the warning and information labels on the drums remain legible,” managing director of production print for Konica Minolta South Africa, Leon Minnie, said in a statement.

“If labels are immersion safe, health-and-safety personnel will know how to handle the material. The testing standards are extremely stringent.”

Section 2 of the test sees the label being submerged in the ocean for three months while Section 3 checks abrasion resistance and permanence of printed images.

The labels that were tested were printed using the AccurioLabel 190 and the bizhub C71cf presses.

“We’re extremely proud that our products have been recognised for achieving the highest global standards. This follows similar standards awards for our Chagall and Degas-series printers,” Minnie added.

So there’s your “did you know for the day”. There is a standard for testing how long labels last under water and Konica Minolta’s printers have passed said test.

[Image – CC 0 Pixabay]