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Construction safety signs must follow a particular shape and colour to express a certain message. It’s important if you are on a construction site that you understand the meaning to keep yourself and others safe.
Please take a look at our guide to make sure that you are meeting the relevant legal duties with your safety signs.
Every employee must know the potential hazards they could face in their occupation. They need safety signs to know how to react in the event of an emergency and what they need to do to avoid them in the future. There are five different types of safety sign. Below are the required standard formats for signs so that the message of each sign is easily and quickly understood (see below).
Different types of safety signs include:
A warning sign alerts you to possible dangers to guard against such as “Danger”. The shape must be a yellow triangle with a black border. Any text or images must also be black on a yellow panel.
Examples of using a warning sign:
Mandatory signs are the blue and white signs on site. They display actions you must obey to keep yourself safe such as “Hard Hats must be worn”. The mandatory sign is a blue circle with white images or wording.
Examples of using a mandatory sign:
A prohibition sign displays actions you must avoid, such as “No Entry”. The colour of the prohibition sign must contain a red circle with a red line across. All images must be black on a white background. Any wording must be white text on a red panel.
Examples of using a prohibition sign:
The safe condition sign contains information relating to emergency action and must be a rectangle such as “Fire Exit”. The symbol must be green with white wording or images.
Examples of using a safe condition sign:
The fire equipment sign is used to display the location and details of fire equipment. The fire sign is a red rectangle with white wording or images. For more on the benefits of fire safety in the workplace, take a look here.
Red – Danger Alarm, Prohibition, Do Not, You Must, Stop It If You Are
Yellow or Amber – Warning, You Have Been Warned, Be Careful, Be Aware
Blue – Mandatory, You Must Do, Obey
Green – Emergency Escape, First Aid, No Danger, Follow This Sign To Reach Safety
Red (fire-fighting signs) – Here Is The Fire Equipment
The ISO 3864-1 determine the colour and shape of a safety sign, and the ISO 3864-3 determine the design.
A combination sign is a safety sign used to give multiple messages. A combination sign, for example, can incorporate a few sign types on a construction site:
You need to follow the below steps to determine if to use a safety sign:
ISO 7010 is a safety standard that safety signs must meet across Europe. ISO 7010:2011 requires signs to be available for the prevention of accidents, information on health hazards, fire protection and emergency evacuation.
BS EN ISO 7010 is the UK’s selection of symbols designed to go on safety signs in line with BS ISO 3864 series for design principles. The standard is used to make all symbols recognised internationally.
An employee should check that all signs are working properly, E.g. make sure that everyone is wearing the correct clothing such as PPE if a sign states so. Make sure that all signs that give directions that actually lead to the relevant area/equipment and all emergency exits lead to safety.
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CSCS Smart Check is replacing CSCS Go Smart from 1st April 2024. It will be the only card system that can check all CSCS cards in circulation.
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