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Warning signs are now a common sight in many workplaces as they are useful in informing staff of safety instructions where a hazard still exists. Like Personal Protection Equipment, signs should be a last resort as they can be ignored and therefore the hazard can still cause an injury. Ideally other control measures should make it impossible to be injured however that is not always possible so signs can be used to indicate a risk and what action can be taken to reduce the likelihood of an injury happening. In the UK there is some mandatory information you need to legally display: The Health & Safety Executive's Health and Safety Law poster. This identifies the key responsibilities of employer and what action an employee must take, where to go for further help and the contacts for Health and Safety within your company. Your Organisations employer's liability certificate. If this is not displayed you are liable to a fine of £400 and should be displayed in a prominent place so staff can see it. This confirms that employees are covered by insurance if they have an accident at work. Your Health and Safety policy. This identifies who has what responsibility at all levels within the organisation. Typically a summary of the policy is displayed and a full copy of the policy available to all staff. A wide variety of signs still exist and the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1995 aimed to standardise the minimum requirements for providing safety signs in the workplace. There are 4 main types of safety signs that you will see - Prohibition Signs. At the name suggests these are signs that stop you from doing something that will cause you or others an injury or prevent a safety issue. They are usually round with a red border and a diagonal red stripe. Examples include No smoking, No naked flames and No pedestrians. Warning signs are triangular with a black border on a yellow background. These indicate a hazard is present nearby eg toxic, electricity or a slippery surface. Safe Condition. These provide information on first aid locations, fire exits and rescue facilities eg evacuation chairs or stretchers. They are rectangular with a white picture on a green background. Mandatory signs are round with a white picture on a blue background. These signs tell you to must do something e.g. wear safety footwear or headgear, wear ear protection or eye protection. Signs with pictures are also useful when numerous languages could be in use e.g. hotels or warehouses and are visually easier to understand. Safety signs are very useful however you need to ensure that there are not too many displayed at one point as they will be too confusing and the aim is to make it easy to understand.
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