Safety Signage At Work Sites

For the past two weeks we have been learning about safety signage in the Tech workshop. We learned that there are three common types of safety signs and what they mean while in a work site.

• Hazard sign - yellow triangle with a black outline. They indicate that there is a hazard in the area which may cause harm (bruising, broken bones, or head injuries) or significant harm (death). An action that could be taken is minimising and isolating the hazard, e.g putting up a barrier to deter people from the hazard or prohibiting access to the area (isolating), or cleaning, or removing it to minimise the hazard. Examples of hazard signs including wet surfaces or electrical faults. 

Prohibition sign.

Hazard sign.

• Mandatory sign - blue coloured circle. They indicate that there is certain safety equipment required to work and be safe on the site. An action that should be taken is to wear the instructed safety equipment. Examples of mandatory signs include wearing eye-protection and earmuffs on worksites.

Mandatory sign.

Danger sign.

• Danger sign - black and red. They indicate there is a hazard that may be life-threatening and cause significant harm. The action taken should be to be either take extreme caution or do not enter the area if the sign instructs to do so. Examples of danger signs include at the entrance of rooms if there is a significant hazard in the room, or at the entrance to mines if there is a gas leak.

• Prohibition sign - red with a line through it. They indicate certain items you cannot use/take into the site or do on the site. The action taken is to follow the sign and do not take the restricted item on to the site - it could create a hazard. Examples of prohibition signs include no smoking in office buildings and no cellphone use on airport tarmacs.

We were then given the task to create our own signs to display in the workshop.

I decided to create a mandatory sign (blue circle) instructing people to turn the extraction fan on while welding.

I think it is an important rule as the consequence of not doing so could lead to dust and soot getting into your lungs and having negative effects later in life.  

Here is the sign I made. I used Google Drawing for this, which proved to be difficult since I couldn't make my own shapes. I am proud of my overall end result. 

Click the following video to learn a little bit more about safety in the workplace :)