All about Different Types of Warning Signs

Whether you want to restrict access to a specific area, alert workers to potential life-threats and possibility of hazards, or you need help with direction, warning signs play an essential and a major role in the facility concerned. In this context, warning signs are a requirement of every country laws to help protect the safety of every individual wherever they are. The regulations require that each organization to use such signs where there is a potential risk to a person's health and safety. There are different warning signs, each with its own classification and use. They are specifically used to achieve the following objectives:

• Communicate crucial information on hazardous conditions; and in most cases, such signs should match the readers' assumptions
• Provide guidance and instructions in case of an emergency
• Convey the need of personal protective devices and equipment (where other control schemes are inadequate)
• Tell about the location of emergency and/or safety facilities

However, before analyzing different kinds of warning signs, it is vital to understand the basic requirements of such signs:

• These signs must have long-term visibility
• Any warning sign should include no more irrelevant information than is required to notify the reader of its meaning
• The variability of human dimension should be always taken into account when placing and designing warning signs
• Illiterate employees should be considered if you are considering to design purely text-based warning signs

If such warning signs are used to signify and show direction(s), then it should not have any ambiguity as to the route the sign indicates. All sorts of viewing conditions have to be taken into account when deciding on the type of warning sign to use.

Keeping the above insights and factors handy, coming up with feasible warning signs that will readily attain its objectives will be quite easy. Some of the different types of warning signs commonly found in and around workplaces and roads include danger warning signs, mandatory warning signs, prohibition warning signs, caution signs, emergency signs, fire signs, dangerous goods warning signs, traffic warning signs, general warning signs and more.

Conclusion

The list of different types of warning signs is endless. Though, the above can effectively serve the purpose of the title as the major signs of interest to many people. Thereby, it is significant that all staff and employees working in a certain environment are able to understand the message conveyed by the warning signs and the risks associated with not adhering to them. It is the responsibility of each organization to instill their staff on the importance of all warning signs and their safety, and the consequences of not adhering to such signs.