Did you know OSHA, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
requires specific labeling in the workplace?
In fact, there’s a long list of labels and signs industrial employers are required to display
to help protect workers from hazards.
These labels and signs must be clearly legible
and easy for workers to see and understand from a safe distance.
To comply with OSHA standards, and improve hazard identification, sign and label designs
should always follow ANSI Z 535 design standards.
One of ANSI’s label and sign design standards defines how signal words should be
used to describe various hazards and safety levels.
These signal words are the large words found at the top of all safety labels and signs.
They indicate: Danger, Warning, Caution, Notice and General Safety.
Danger is reserved for the most hazardous situations. These are the hazards that, if
not avoided, will result in death or serious injury.
Common label and sign applications for Danger signs include:
High voltage, Heavy equipment hazards And machinery hazards where accidents will lead to death.
Warning should only be used to describe a hazard that could result in death or serious injury.
Warning signs are often used on: Conveyor systems, Dangerous exposures
-And electrical equipment where accidental shocks have the potential to kill.
Caution is used for hazard labeling as well,
but only hazards which could result in a minor or moderate injury.
Caution signs are reserved for less serious hazards.
Like: Trip and fall hazards, Non-life threatening electrical shocks,
And equipment that may cause minor injury.
Notice is not used for hazards.
This signal word is used to convey security, sanitation or housekeeping rules.
General safety signal words are reserved for safety procedures and similar labels and signs.
Each should be worded for specific applications such as, emergency shutdown procedure
or operating instructions.
To find out more about OSHA Safety Signs, follow the link back to GraphicProducts.com.
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Best Practices Guide to OSHA Safety Signs.