Top Tips To Make Your Safety Signs Visible

Safety and warning signs are the need of the hour. Be it public transports, workplace, stores, products, equipment or residential areas; every thing must have a warning sign that guides people about the dangers and solutions. Choosing design is not enough unless they fulfil the purpose. Read the following tips to ensure your safety signs are visible and effective. 

Design Elements for Safety Signs

Hazard warning signs can be easily seen, read and understood only when they are needed the most. And to let this happen smoothly, you need to have the right design. Safety signs are supposed to help people keep them safe and warn them about upcoming danger. If the design of the sign board is appropriate, has the right text, images and color then it can successfully ensure identification, readability and understanding to the visitors and viewers. Here are a few things to consider in the design.

Text

The text of the hazard warning sign should be short and precise. It should define the warning and potential consequence of not heeding the given warning so that people are aware of what worst can happen. The signs must be direct and clear and have most essential information at the top. Make sure you go for sign boards that have easy to read fonts. 

Warning signs are more likely to be less understood. It should explain to the viewer what is the hazard? What action must be taken? Basically, both the danger and action to be taken should be well understood. Placing information at the top is a better option as most of the people scan sign boards from top to bottom. And with easy fonts like sans-serif your safety sign board will ensure that each line is properly read.

Images

Next essential aspect of the design element in a warning and safety sign is the image used. Not everyone is able to read the text on the board due to less language knowledge. In such cases images can be extremely helpful. They can turn out to be an effective method for communicating complex information and reducing confusion. For example if there is an electrical warning sign, using a supporting image with the text can give a clearer impression. You can add an image created to electricity or a plug to simplify the warning. As a visitor sees this, he or she would have an immediate sense of danger and increase comprehension. Research says that visuals are better understood than text. Also this helps in highlighting the safety messages by making it reach diverse audiences. One may have a different native language but the understanding of images can not be different. Images help bridge the gap in understanding images and drive the message home.

Color

As per OSHA there are specific recommendations about the colors of danger, warning and caution signs. Red is for danger, orange for warning and yellow for caution sign boards. While not everyone is able to distinguish between these colors of safety signs in Australia, it is important to follow established guidelines. These things will help people recognise the safety messages in an appropriate manner and move to a safe place. Being a professional it is your duty to ensure the right colors are followed for the sign boards. A simple negligence can cause major confusion and issues.

The ultimate goal for safety and hazard warning signs is to make people aware of the danger and guide them the way out. One should be aware of when the signs are needed, where they are needed, how to comply with regulation, what information should be in it and what location should be chosen for its placement. Only if all these considerations are taken care of, can you ensure the safety of your people.