Safety Signs

We have developed a sister site specifically to handle orders for UK & EC health, safety, warning, fire & no smoking signs in the following categories:

* No smoking signs
* Smokefreeengland, 1st July 2007 England wide Smoking ban signs
* Prohibition signs
* Warning signs
* Mandatory signs
* Fire equipment signs
* Safe Condition signs
* Fire exit signs to BS5499 & 92/58 EEC
* Site Construction safety signs
* Security signs
* Photoluminescent signs

If these are the type of safety signs you need please visit:

safety sign supplies.co.uk

If you can't find what you're looking for, or would like a personalised, custom version of any of the safety signs you've seen, please contact us. We are very happy to design and produce custom versions of all of the safety signs available. We can add your logo and company name to construction site signs, or create a sign to cover a special site risk for which we don't have a standard sign. There's no minimum order quantity and the delivery times are the same as those for our standard products.

no smoking safety signelectrical warning safety signmandatory wash your hands safety signfire alarm call point fire equipment safety signfirst aid safe condition safety sign



Learn more about when and where to use SAFETY SIGNS

If you are an Employer you should already know that you have a legal duty to undertake a risk assessment relating to health and safety of your employees, contractors or visitors, and to provide safety signs on any workplace risk that is not satisfactorily controlled by other means. This is mandated by the Management of Health and Safety at Work regulations 1999 and includes a duty to maintain any signs installed.

If you are an employee then almost certainly you will have come across safety signs of one type or another within your place of work. Some examples of the different types are explained below.

The term ‘safety sign’ includes various types of sign; these are different in appearance, shape and colour according to the nature of the sign:
prohibition safety sign Prohibition/Danger Signs: Tell you something you ‘MUST NOT DO’. They include a round symbol with a white background, red border and cross bar. Examples include: No Smoking, No Entry, No Naked Lights.
warning safety sign Warning Signs: Warn you of a hazard or danger. They include a triangular symbol with a yellow background and black border. Examples include: Deep Water, Forklift Trucks operating, Electricity, Toxic Substances.
mandatory safety sign Mandatory Signs: Tell you something you ‘MUST DO’. The symbols used are round with a solid blue background and white pictogram. Examples include: Hard hat Area, Keep Fire Doors Shut, Wash Your Hands, Fire Action.
fire equipment safety sign Fire Equipment Signs: Are used to mark and indicate the location of fire equipment. The symbols are white on a red background and denote the type of equipment. Examples include: Fire Extinguisher, Fire Point, Fire Hose.
safe condition safety sign Safe Condition Signs: Are used to mark the presence of safe exit routes or locations of safety equipment. Square or oblong white symbols are used on a green background. Examples include First Aid, Emergency/Fire Exit.

Whatever type of sign is used it must meet the requirements of the Health & Safety (Safety Signs & Signals) Regulations 1996. These regulations have helped standardise the way safety signs are used throughout the EU. By using pictograms, standardised colours and shapes the regulations have been very successful. This is especially important when the workforce in some UK industries may contain a large proportion of non-nationals. Even if these workers are not familiar with English they can usually determine what the signs mean. Employers with pipe work that contains dangerous substances; or storage of dangerous and/or hazardous substances on site, are also required to mark these with symbols or pictograms.

Good signage is only one aspect of an effective Health & Safety programme. It is not sufficient to put the signs up and do nothing else.

Your risk assessment has to include areas such as:

Building site entrances – informing of safety policies such as “This is a hard hat area”, “Danger Man at work”, “Site Entrance” and “Children must not play on this site”.

Machinery hazards – signs such as “Guards must not be removed”, “Warning High voltage” or “Personal protective equipment must be worn”.

Pedestrian and traffic routes – identification of routes and directions such as “All vehicles must report to reception” or “No entrance”.

Obstacles and dangerous locations – places where someone could be at special risk; “Mind your head”, “Danger keep clear of unpropped body”.

Control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH) – In addition to undertaking a COSHH assessment you must identify any hazardous materials - including liquids, gases and vapours - with appropriate signs for example; “Corrosive”, “Explosive” or “Flammable”. In some cases you may also require a Safety Data Sheet (SDS).

Emergency escape routes – from the centre of the building or site, at every change in direction or level; “Fire Exit”, “Fire assembly point”, “Fire Action”

Fire fighting equipment – type and instructions for use; “This is an AFFF extinguisher”, “Fire Point”

Increasingly Health and Safety officers are choosing to install photoluminescent safety signs – for relatively little extra cost, these provide the extra safety feature of permanent “glow in the dark” high visibility, without needing batteries or power connections. In a low light or smoke filled dangerous environment, this can make a valuable difference.

Fire Exit Signage:
There are currently 3 types of fire exit sign available and depending on the installation type it is possible to choose between:

BS5499 Fire Exit sign BS5499 – The British Standard offers advice on how to combine “running man” symbol, text and arrows to give an easily followed escape route.

EEC 92/58 Fire Exit sign 92/58 EEC – The European Standard, slightly different design of symbol – this is the common format used throughout Europe.

NHS Estates Fire Exit sign HTM65 Signs guide 2 for NHS estates – Designed specifically for NHS Estates.

Although any one of the 3 designs can be used, the preference for new installations is 92/58 EEC. If a building or site has existing signs it is necessary to use the same type in order to give a consistent approach.

All of our fire exit signs are offered in to photoluminescent (also known as glow in the dark or Nite Glo) which is an excellent upgrade - meaning that the signs can be seen even in low light or smoke filled conditions. A further alternative now offered is illuminated fire exit signs. From a low cost luminaire with a self adhesive universal sign legend or an illuminated fire exit sign to the EC92/58 design all available to purchase direct from safetysignsupplies.co.uk
Illuminated Fire Exit sign

If you'd like a copy of our latest catalogue it can be downloaded directly from our safety signs ecommerce site as a pdf: safety sign supplies 2009 catalogue (4MB).

If you'd like to learn more about the different type of safety signs and their uses in industrial and commercial settings - you can download our guide as a pdf: safety sign supplies learn more about safety signs

To learn more about the law relating to safety signs - you can find additional information on our "The Law of Safety Signs" page.

Colour Company Office Plaques

Company Office Plaques

Company office plaques - part of a recently completed corporate branding project for Lincolnshire firm of Chartered Accountants and Business Advisers, Duncan & Toplis.

These company office plaques were designed and produced by Viking Signs in corporate colours for Duncan & Toplis on acrylic with a brushed metal backing. Fitted by our teams across Lincolnshire at all 10 company locations in 3 days.

more examples...