Safety signs, colors and tags

Skills you'll practise

• Identify prohibition, warning, mandatory, safe-condition and fire-equipment signs by shape and color
• Explain what OSHA's danger, caution and safety instruction signs, and the ANSI Z535 signal words, tell you about the seriousness of a hazard
• State what an OSHA accident prevention tag must contain and act correctly on a tag someone else has placed
• Explain why signs are used only for risk that remains after other controls
• Spot and report damaged, missing, misleading or out-of-date signs during a walk-round

Course outline

1. 1.Safety signs, colors and tagsVideo · 2 min
2. 2.Shapes and colors: reading a sign at a glanceLesson · 15 min
3. 3.US signs, signal words and tagsLesson · 15 min
4. 4.Signs come last: keeping them trueLesson · 15 min
5. 5.Safety signs, colors and tags: knowledge checkKnowledge check · 20 questions
6. 6.Safety signs, colors and tags: practical exerciseKnowledge check · 1 question
7. 7.Final exam10 questions · passing it completes the course, so people who already know the material can test out

Sources it draws on

The lessons and questions are written from these references, so learners can go back to the original.

• Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, Schedule 1: minimum requirements for safety signs (UK)
• Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, regulation 4: provision and maintenance of safety signs (UK)
• Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, regulation 5: information, instruction and training (UK)
• HSE L64: Safety signs and signals. Guidance on Regulations (UK; covers BS EN ISO 7010)
• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.145: Specifications for accident prevention signs and tags
• OSHA 29 CFR 1910.144: Safety color code for marking physical hazards
• OSHA (Federal Register, 13 June 2013): Updating OSHA standards based on national consensus standards; signs and devices (allows ANSI Z535.1-2006(R2011), Z535.2-2011 and Z535.5-2011)
• Wikipedia: ANSI Z535 (overview of the Z535 parts and the DANGER, WARNING, CAUTION and NOTICE signal words)
• Your employer's safety procedures, risk assessments and site rules (these govern)