BRADY CORPORATION NONQUALIFIED STOCK OPTION

Upon management’s recommendation, the Management Development and Compensation Committee (the “Committee”) of the Brady Corporation Board of Directors has awarded to _______________ (“Employee”) a non-qualified stock option (the “Option”) effective __________, 20__, pursuant to the terms of the Brady Corporation 2012 Omnibus Incentive Stock Plan (the “Plan”). The Corporation’s records shall be the official record of the Option grant described herein and, in the event of any conflict between this description and the Corporation’s records, the Corporation’s records shall control.

The Corporation grants to the Employee the right and option to purchase, on the terms and conditions hereof, all or any part of an aggregate of X,XXX shares of the presently authorized Class A Common Stock of the Corporation, $.01 par value, whether unissued or issued and reacquired by the Corporation, at the price of $XX.XX per share (the “Option Price”).

Except as provided in this Section and in Section 3, this Option may not be exercised (a) unless Employee is at the date of the exercise in the employ of the Corporation or an Affiliate, and (b) until Employee shall have been continuously so employed for a period of at least one year from the date hereof. Thereafter, this Option shall be exercisable for any amount of shares up to the maximum percentage of shares covered by this Option (rounded up to the nearest whole share), as follows (but in no event shall this Option be exercisable for any shares after the expiration date provided in Section 7):

If Employee shall cease to be employed by the Corporation or an Affiliate for any reason other than as provided in Section 3 after Employee shall have been continuously so employed for one year after the grant of this Option, Employee may, at any time within 90 days of such termination, but in no event later than the date of expiration of this Option, exercise this Option to the extent Employee was entitled to do so on the date of such termination. However, if Employee was dismissed for cause, of which the Committee shall be the sole judge, this Option shall forthwith expire. This Agreement does not confer upon Employee any right of continuation of employment by the Corporation or an Affiliate, nor does it impair any right the Corporation or any Affiliate may have to terminate the Employee’s employment at any time.

Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 2 hereof, if the Employee:

Although the Corporation intends to exert its best efforts so that the shares purchasable upon the exercise of this Option will be registered under, or exempt from, the registration requirements of, the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Act”) and any applicable state securities law at the time or times this Option (or any portion of this Option) first becomes exercisable, if the exercise of this Option would otherwise result in a violation by the Corporation of any provision of the Act or of any state securities law, the Corporation may require that such exercise be deferred until the Corporation has taken appropriate action to avoid any such violation.

This Option shall be exercised by delivering to the Corporation, at the office of its Treasurer, a written notice of the number of shares with respect to which this Option is at the time being exercised and by paying the Corporation in full the Option Price of the shares being acquired at the time.

Payment shall be made either (i) in cash; (ii) by delivering shares of the Corporation’s Class A Common Stock which have been beneficially owned by the Employee, the spouse of the Employee, or both of them, for a period of at least six months prior to the time of exercise (“Delivered Stock”); (iii) by surrendering to the Corporation shares of Class A Common Stock otherwise receivable upon exercise of the Option (a “Net Exercise”); or (iv) any combination of the foregoing. Payment in the form of Delivered Stock shall be in the amount of the Fair Market Value of the stock at the date of exercise, determined in accordance with Section 9.

This Option shall expire ten years after the date on which this Option was granted.

The Corporation may require, as a condition to the exercise of this Option, that the Employee concurrently pay to the Corporation any taxes which the Corporation is required to withhold by reason of such exercise. In lieu of part or all of any such payment, the Employee may elect, subject to such rules and regulations as the Committee may adopt from time to time, to have the Corporation withhold from the shares to be issued upon exercise that number of shares having a Fair Market Value, determined in accordance with Section 9, equal to the amount which the Corporation is required to withhold.

The “Fair Market Value” of the Class A Common Stock of the Corporation on any date shall mean, if the stock is then listed and traded on a registered national securities exchange, or is quoted in the NASDAQ National Market System, the average of the high and low sales price recorded in composite transactions for such date or, if such date is not a business day or if no sales of shares shall have been reported with respect to such date, the next preceding business date with respect to which sales were reported. In the absence of reported sales or if the stock is not so listed or quoted, but is traded in the over-the-counter market, Fair Market Value shall be the average of the closing bid and asked prices for such shares on the relevant date.

As consideration for the grant of this Option, Employee agrees to, understands and acknowledges the following:

termination of Employee's employment with the Company for any reason, Employee shall immediately return to the Company all documents and materials that contain or constitute Confidential Information, in any form whatsoever, including but not limited to, all copies, abstracts, electronic versions, and summaries thereof. Executive further agrees that, without the written consent of the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation or, in the case of the Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, without the written approval of the Board of Directors of the Corporation, Employee will not disclose, use, copy or duplicate, or otherwise permit the use, disclosure, copying or duplication of any Confidential Information of the Company, other than in connection with the authorized activities conducted in the course of Employee's employment with the Company. Employee agrees to take all reasonable steps and precautions to prevent any unauthorized disclosure, use, copying or duplication of Confidential Information. For purposes of this Agreement, Confidential Information means any and all financial, technical, commercial or other information concerning the business and affairs of the Company that is confidential and proprietary to the Company, including without limitation,

For purposes of this Agreement, a Competitor shall mean any corporation, person, firm or organization (or division or part thereof) engaged in or about to become engaged in research and development work on, or the

production and/or sale of, any product or service which is directly competitive with one with respect to which Employee acquired Confidential Information by reason of Employee's work with the Company.

This Option is subject to the terms of the Corporation's recoupment, clawback or similar policy as it may be in effect from time to time, as well as any similar provisions of applicable law, any of which could in certain circumstances require repayment or forfeiture of awards or any shares of Common Stock or other cash or property received with respect to the awards (including any value received from a disposition of the shares acquired upon payment of the awards).

Neither the Employee nor his heirs nor his personal representative shall have any of the rights or privileges of a stockholder of the Corporation in respect of any of the shares issuable upon the exercise of the Option herein granted, unless and until certificates representing such shares shall have been issued or shares in book entry form shall have been recorded in the records of the Corporation’s transfer agent.

No portion of the Option granted hereunder shall be transferable or assignable (or made subject to any pledge, lien, obligation or liability of an Employee) except (a) by last will and testament or the laws of descent and distribution (and upon a transfer or assignment pursuant to an Employee’s last will and testament or the laws of descent and distribution, any Option must be transferred in accordance therewith); (b) during the Employee’s lifetime, nonqualified stock Options may be transferred by an Employee to the Employee’s spouse, children or grandchildren or to a trust for the benefit of such spouse, children or grandchildren, provided that the terms of any such transfer prohibit the resale of shares acquired upon exercise of the option at a time during which the transferor would not be permitted to sell such shares under the Corporation’s policy on trading by insiders.

Except as otherwise herein provided, the Option herein granted and the rights and privileges pertaining thereto shall not be transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated in any way (whether by operation of law or otherwise) and shall not be subject to execution, attachment or similar process.

In the event there are any changes in the Class A Common Stock of the Corporation through merger, consolidation, reorganization, recapitalization, stock dividend, stock split, combination or exchange of shares, rights offering or any

other change affecting the Class A Common Stock of the Corporation, appropriate changes will be made by the Committee in the aggregate number of shares and the purchase price and kind of shares subject to this Option, to prevent substantial dilution or enlargement of the rights granted to or available for Employee.

Anything contained herein to the contrary notwithstanding, upon the dissolution or liquidation of the Corporation, or upon any merger in which the Corporation is not the surviving corporation, at any time prior to the expiration date of the termination of this Option, the Employee shall have the right within 60 days prior to the effective date of such dissolution, liquidation or merger, to surrender all or any unexercised portion of this Option to the Corporation for cash, subject to the discretion of the Committee as to the exact timing of said surrender. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, in the event Employee has retired or died, Employee’s right to surrender all or any unexercised portion of this Option under this Section shall be available only to the extent that at the time of any such surrender, Employee would have been entitled to exercise this Option under Sections 2 or 3 hereof, as the case may be. The amount of cash to be paid to Employee for the portion of this Option so surrendered, shall be equal to the number of shares of Class A Common Stock subject to the surrendered Option multiplied by the difference between the Option Price per share, as described in Section 1 hereof, and the Fair Market Value per share, determined in accordance with Section 9 hereof, as of the time of surrender.

Any notice to be given to the Corporation under the terms of this Agreement shall be addressed to the Corporation in care of its Chief Financial Officer, and any notice to be given to the Employee may be addressed at the address as it appears on the Corporation’s records, or at such other address as either party may hereafter designate in writing to the other. Except as provided in Section 5 hereof, any such notice shall be deemed to have been duly given, if and when enclosed in a properly sealed envelope addressed as aforesaid, and deposited, postage prepaid, in the United States mail.

This Option is subject in all respects to the provisions of the Plan. In the event of any conflict between any provisions of this Option and the provisions of the Plan, the provisions of the Plan shall control, except to the extent the Plan permits the Committee to modify the terms of an Option grant and has done so herein. Terms defined in the Plan where used herein shall have the meanings as so defined. Employee acknowledges receipt of a copy of the Plan.

This Option has been granted in Wisconsin and shall be construed under the laws of that state.

Wherever possible, each provision of this Option will be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision hereof is held to be prohibited by or invalid under applicable law, such provision will be ineffective only to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, without invalidating the remainder of such provision or the remaining provisions hereof.

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