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Workplace Warning Signs: Essential Elements to Include

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Brandon Garcia

DSS Safety Updates/Worksite Safety/Workplace Warning Signs: Essential Elements to Include

Discover what should be included on workplace warning signs to ensure safety. Explore our guide and enhance your workplace safety measures today!

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Safety is incredibly important in the workplace, and despite the best efforts by many companies, almost 3 million workers worldwide suffer fatal work-related accidents and diseases every year (according to data from The International Labour Organization).

Every organization should strive to make things as safe as possible for their employees. There are various elements to this, and one of the simplest, yet most important, is workplace safety signs. Basic workplace hazard signs can be enough to save a life, so it's crucial that they're placed in any environment where potential hazards are present.

​In this guide, we'll go over the essential elements of warning signs that should exist in your workplace. Let's get started.

Types of Workplace Safety Signs​

There are all kinds of warning and safety signs that can be used in a workplace. The ones you need to consider will depend on exactly what operations are taking place within your work environment.

Danger Signs

Danger signs are required by OSHA for any areas that have immediate hazards that could cause serious injury or death. They must always have the word "DANGER" on them and care colored red, white, and black. Some common examples of these include:

  • Electrical Safety Signs
  • Chemical Safety Signs
  • Construction Safety Signs

Caution Signs

Caution signs are suitable for areas that have minor hazards or where unsafe work practices could cause minor to moderate injuries. These are common in industrial environments such as distribution and production facilities. However, they can also be suitable for various public settings.

​Caution signs typically include the safety alert symbol. When they don't, they might also serve as an alternative to notice signs. They consist of a black panel and have black letters on a yellow background.

Warning Signs

Warning signs are classified as being one severity level below danger signs. They're used in areas where severe injury or death is possible.

​Note that danger signs are used in areas where this is very likely when proper procedures aren't followed. If the odds of this happening are low, a warning sign is usually more suitable. They contain black letters on an orange background.

Notice Signs

Notice signs are for indicating property or equipment damage. They usually give some information unrelated to personal injury. It could, instead, relate to:

  • Operating instructions
  • Practices
  • Procedures
  • Rules

These have a blue background with "NOTICE" written in white, italicized font over it. The body either has:

  • White text on a black background
  • Blue or black text on a white background

Safe Condition Signs

These typically contain safety-related messaging rather than referring to specific hazards. They can do things like point out:

  • Emergency eye wash stations
  • Emergency exits
  • Safety routes
  • First aid kids

They're also known as general safety signs and can help encourage safe practices around general hazards. They have white text on a green background. In some cases, they have headers, in which case the main text is black on a white background.

ANSI and OSHA Regulations

Workplace safety signs must meet ANSI and OSHA standards. For OSHA, this refers to OSHA 29 CFR 1910.145., titled "Specifications for accident prevention signs and tags". It covers aspects of signs such as:

  • Design
  • Application
  • Symbols
  • Pictograms

The relevant ANSI standard is ANSI Z535. It covers the same areas, and was updated in 2011 with ANSI Z535.2-2011 (R2017) to cover the following:

  • Use of globally recognizable graphical symbols
  • Specific signal words for instructional safety messages, hazard-alerting safety messages, and on-hazard alerting safety messages
  • Clearer, more substantiative text on signs.

Best Practices for Warning Signs

Depending on your workplace, you might need a wide variety of warning signs. There are various things you can do to help ensure the environment is as safe as possible.

Position Signs Carefully

OSHA 29 CFR 1910.145 doesn't state specifically how signs should be placed, but it's important to note that all signs should be located as close as they can safely be to hazards. They should also be:

  • Unobstructed
  • Clearly visible from all angles
  • Clearly visible in low-light settings

You can use additional lighting and reflective tape to help with this.

Don't Overdo It

Safety sign guidelines don't dictate a maximum number of signs, but if you have too many, it can be problematic. If a work area is covered in warning signs, your workers are likely to be overwhelmed, and they might not pay full attention to many of them.

​As a result, the area could actually become less safe. Make sure you only use signs where they're essential to avoid this issue.

Use Clear and Readable Signs

Effective warning signs are crucial, which means they need to be easy for everyone to read. Signs should be clear and concise rather than overloaded with information. They should clearly communicate whatever they're there for.

​Having tough, high-quality signs will help with this. Durable Safety Signs can provide a huge range of comprehensive safety signs for all kinds of environments
.

Maintain Signs Diligently

Even the best-quality safety signs will degrade over time. This can happen even faster in environments where they're exposed to more harsh conditions.

​Don't just place your signs and forget about them. You should include sign maintenance in your regular safety schedule. This can include moving and updating signs to make sure they're always fit for purpose

Penalties for Non-Compliance With Safety Signs

Penalties for non-compliance can vary, but they typically include fines imposed by OSHA. You should also note that violations of signage standards are considered non-compliance.

​As of the latest OSHA standards, you could face a fine of:

  • Up to $16,131 per violation for "serious or other-than-serious posting requirements"
  • $16,131 per day beyond the notification date for failure to correct a cited violation
  • $16,1,323 for willful or repeated violations

Note that these are the maximum for violations, so you could face lower fines than these.

Warning Signs for Your Workplace

Warning signs are incredibly important in a range of work environments. Not only do they help keep everyone safe, but they ensure you don't violate crucial regulations.

​Durable Safety Signs is a leading sign shop that has been trusted by businesses in a range of industries for over 60 years. We offer same-day production and free shipping on orders of five or more signs. Take a look at our selection of safety signs and place your order today.