Safety Signs & Signals
Signage is part of our everyday lives; they are everywhere and whether we notice these or not we should mechanically understand what they mean. All signs are there to provide us with the information we need. When we are driving and need to know which route to take, deciding which toilet to walk into or pointing out an electrical hazard in our office, each sign is there for a reason. Whatever the sign may be, signs are incorporated into our everyday living to offer us what we need, from warnings, instructions or identification.
Safety Signs used in Workplaces
There are 2 pieces of legislation that need to be followed and referred to when using safety signs in the workplace. The first is the Health & Safety (Safety Signs & Signals) Regulations 1996 and secondly, The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. We all know that it is a legal requirement for signs to be placed within the workplace. What is more important is that these signs offer a consistent and clear message to the employees or visitors rather than confuse them. The way a sign looks is extremely important when it comes to recognition to the human brain. Comprehension of graphical symbols, colours and supplementary text all provide the basis of how we interpret safety signs. For example, we all know that a No Smoking Sign will be red and white with a strike going through a cigarette and that an electrical hazard sign will be yellow and black with a lightening strike. We know and recognise these signs unconsciously, because these are signs that have always offered us a consistent message.
Why ISO 7010 to ISO EN 7010?
The International Standard; ISO 7010 is a recommendation on best practice of
Graphical symbols – Safety colours and safety signs – Safety signs used in workplaces and public areas. It is a guidance document that will make it easier and more comprehensible for you, as employers, to ensure that you comply with regulations. Since its introduction in 2004, it has sought to harmonize the graphical symbols used in safety signs, to ensure we are all familiar with the safety information and understand their instruction. Since then, comments regarding its usefulness and suggestions for improving a consistent message mean that ISO 7010 is now to be fast tracked to become ISO EN 7010, a European Norm. This means that not only will all safety signs be consistent in design but also the contents will be written into UK and EU law.
‘The adoption of ISO 7010 as a European Norm (ISO EN 7010) and the withdrawing of illustrations that formed the Health & Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) regulations 1996 will simplify and improve the comprehension of safety signs throughout the world. Understanding graphical symbols is paramount to health & safety.’ Health & Safety Sign Association
After a series of tests for recognition and comprehension of safety signs was carried out, it was proposed that the European Norm would create consistent symbols and pictograms, which would ensure that they were recognised and understood universally. These changes are extremely minor and you may not even notice some of them but they have all been tested to see which sign is best understood. For Health & Safety Managers across Europe it will finally allow the use of a common platform of language in Safety Signs. Locate, Identify, Inform, Instruct and Educate (the tasks of safety signing) will now be easier than ever.
ISO EN 7010 is due to be out later this year. Once this has come into practice, it will be written into regulations that must be complied with.
Means of Escape Signs
Fire Exit Signs are the signs which probably have the most varied styles and designs. As a fire safety consultancy we have seen fire exit signs come in all strange and uncanny shapes and sizes. There is a whole mixture out there that does not comply with regulations. Fire Exit Signs need to give us the quickest route out of the building and should be easy to understand and guide us. These signs instruct us on what route to take. The use of arrows, straight on, down, left and right should all be placed to lead the correct way. There should be no reason for you to look at a sign and wonder ‘what does it mean?’
Signs are not only recognised by the way they look. We also need to be able to see them to comprehend. Take a look at this picture (right). Need I say anymore! All signs must remain visible at all material times. We understand that it can often be confusing as to where to place your sign. It needs to be visible from all directions. Too little signs and you’re not giving your employees or visitors enough information. Yet too many signs can also cause even more confusion.
Let’s take a look at an example. Please see picture (left). What route would you take? My guess is that most of us would take the exit sign rather than the Fire Exit Sign, even though the fire exit sign is going to be the quickest route. In a situation like this we do not need to be making 50/50 decisions, it literally is a case of life or death. We do not need to be guessing! If the Fire Exit Sign was moved to a place not so close to the other sign then the message will be clearly understood.
Would You Like to Know More?
Solutions Fire Safety is holding a Free Technical Presentation in Basildon, Essex on Tuesday 15th March 2011 regarding the forthcoming changes of ISO 7010 to ISO EN 7010. We seek to disseminate this information amongst professionals in an effort to promote best practice. It is also suggested that in doing so we can save professionals and their organisations from buying signs containing motifs and diagrams that will no longer conform to standards. In additions we will also provide information on cost savings to be achieved, particularly in relation to emergency lighting. This is a 1 – 2 hour presentation. Seats are filling up quickly so book your places now!
Free Technical Presentation - being held in Basildon, Essex on Tuesday 15th March 2011 starting at 10am
Click Here for more information and to book your place
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