What are OSHA/ANSI Safety Sign Standards?
Video Transcription
Did you know OSHA, the Occupational Safety in administration requires specific labeling in the workplace?
In fact, there's a long list of labels and signs industrial employers are required to display to help protect workers from hazards.
These labels and signs must be clearly legible and easy for workers to see and understand from a safe distance.
To comply with OSHA standards and improve hazard identification, sign and label designs should always follow the ANSI Z535 design standards.
One of ANSI label and sign design standards defines how signal words should be used to describe various hazards and safety levels.
These signal words are the large words found at the top of all safety labels and signs. They indicate danger, warning, caution, notice, and general safety.
Danger is reserved for the most hazardous situations. These are hazards that if not avoided will result in death or serious injury.
Common applications for danger signs are high voltage, heavy equipment hazards, and machinery hazards where accidents will lead to death.
Warning should be used to describe a hazard that could result in death or serious injury.
Warning signs are often used on conveyor systems. Dangerous exposures, and electrical equipment where accidental shocks have the potential to kill.
Caution is used for hazard labeling as well, but only hazards which could result in minor or moderate injury.
Caution signs are reserved for less serious hazards, like trip and fall hazards, non life threatening electrical shocks. And equipment that may cause minor injury.
Notice is not used for hazards. This signal word is used to convey security, sanitation, or housekeeping rules.
General safety signal words are reserved for safety procedures and similar labels and signs. Each should be worded for specific applications such as emergency shutdown procedure, or operating instructions.
To find out more about OSHA safety signs, follow the link to best practice guide to OSHA safety signs.
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