It’s a sad fact that health and safety are a vital but often overlooked element of modern business. However important it is to businesses and organisations, many companies do not put in the time, or adequate resources, to comply with health and safety regulations. For this reason, there are of course some key rules of thumb to follow when it come to making appropriate health and safety signs and appropriate statements which are both effective and legally compliant. Health and safety in a business environment are no walk in the park, but following these simple tips could make your life easier.
It’s essential to have clear and visible markings which can provide an indication of a safe condition for a person, product, machine or item. Health and safety legislation does not just apply to working environments, but it also applies to non-working environment settings such as schools and shops. For example, most schools require that all pink banners indicating that it is safe for students to wear pink should be accompanied by a white border representing the safety symbol. This is commonly found at the bottom half of the banner and requires that a dot above the safety symbol be invisible. In contrast, a red dot for safety must be within a square black border and a white dot to indicate safety must be surrounded by a solid black border.
Another thing that you may wish to remember is that health and safety information signs should always be displayed without a backdrop. Most information signs like warnings and stickers have a white background, which makes the information harder to see especially if there are other graphics on the sign. Furthermore, using a white background gives the impression that the information is conveyed directly from the employee to the viewer. A dark blue background is very distracting and it reduces the amount of information that is communicated. The use of a white symbol like a blue circle is therefore recommended as a safer option.
health and safety signs that have a yellow background are recommended as long as they do not exceed three times the size of the image in the upper panel. The font used for this graphic is also important since it should be large enough to be noticeable but not too big. It should fit comfortably on the page and should not make the text appear smaller because it can cause eye fatigue when reading long texts. Care should be taken with the color of the background since some colors can easily distract from the message. In this case, using yellow background would be better.
There are many health and safety signs that have a red background. These warning signs should not obstruct traffic flow. For this reason, it is recommended that these signs be placed at the end or the beginning of the road so that traffic can pass safely. When using a red pictogram, the distance between the pictogram and the actual hazard should be at least two lanes wide. However, this should not be a problem since a two lane road should be enough for traffic flow anyway. Avoid using red background for pictograms of hazards that are located near railroad tracks or near power lines as these pose great risk to drivers.
Finally, pictograms of caution and Warning signs should be placed at the entrances to hazardous areas, in front of gas stations and other emergency facilities, and within the proximity of restaurants, hotels, banks, hospitals, and other establishments that provide food services. These pictograms of Danger and Warning are designed to give drivers extra time to prepare for an escape route or to turn around if they need to. Driving schools have different sets of rules and regulations that they follow, but the most common sign that you will find in a driving school is the pictogram of caution and warning sign. Therefore, it is important that you check the rules before placing any pictograms on your vehicle to ensure that you are adhering to them.