Why You Should Review Safety Signs
Safety signs are an integral part to ensuring a safe work environment. Used primarily for communicating hazards in the workplace they can also be used to give instructions or warnings about particular areas. It is highly important that the correct safety signs are displayed in your workplace to ensure the safety of workers and visitors.
Here we explore why reviewing your safety signs regularly should be a priority to ensure continued safety.
Health and Safety
Health and safety procedures in the workplace encompass everything from educating about fire escape routes to restricting access through implementing key storage solutions from Reece Safety or providing training sessions to workers; there are a wide variety of aspects to consider.
Another critical aspect of health and safety however, is the display of safety signs as a way to protect workers. As part of constructing a strong health and safety strategy, each risk and hazard in the workplace should be provided with an appropriately displayed safety sign. This sign will communicate to workers about the potential risks or give appropriate instructions which will ultimately protect them from accident or injury.
Review
A review of your safety signs should be conducted by a qualified health and safety professional and should be in line with an up to date risk assessment. This risk assessment should highlight any potential hazards in the workplace, and whether the appropriate safety sign is in place. Should new safety signs need implementing or old ones replaced, this should be done with a matter of urgency.
Reviews of your safety signs should be undertaken any time your business or building undergoes a change, and in line with your risk assessment schedule. Should an accident or injury occur in the workplace, a full risk assessment and safety sign review should be undertaken immediately after to ensure all precautions are in place to protect workers.
Visibility
It is vital that safety signs are displayed in a clear and noticeable manner. As part of reviewing the safety signs in your workplace it should be ensured not only that each sign is visible from all necessary areas, but also that they are displayed in a well-lit area. Signs which have been displayed out of eyeline and in dark or unused areas are far more likely to be ignored which could lead to accidents occurring.
Visibility also pertains to the quality of the sign and its readability. Should the sign have faded over time due to external factors such as weather, then this should be replaced. Signs should be checked regularly for readability and to ensure that they have not been subjected to external factors which could cause them to deteriorate.
Information Changes
As part of conducting risk assessments, new hazards may arise in line with additional equipment or changes in layout. It is important that all new hazards are identified and the appropriate signage displayed. This can be everything from instructing workers to wear goggles or other personal protective equipment, to warning about high voltage or informing about fire safety equipment.
Knowing Your Signs
It is important that as part of a health and safety procedure that all workers are made aware of safety signs and their meaning. Without adequate knowledge workers may be put at risk; it is therefore important to ensure that full health and safety training is provided to a high standard. This should include awareness of sign colours, shapes and their symbol meanings.
As part of ensuring that your workplace is as safe as possible a regular review of safety signs should be undertaken. This should take in to account everything from visibility to training staff to correctly identify their meanings. With up to date risk assessments and safety sign reviews, you can ensure that your business will stay ahead of any potential hazards which may cause injury to workers.
