Danger and warning light signals: how to ensure their effectiveness

The use of warning and warning signs is governed by Legislative Decree 81/08, which lays down precise rules for health and safety signs in the workplace in general.

This standard confirms that safety signs must be present in all enterprises or production units and provides precise provisions on this matter. For example, it determines that the obligation to use safety signs falls on the employer if there are risks that cannot be avoided or sufficiently limited by measures, methods, work organization systems or technical means of collective protection.

The same standard also defines different categories of signals that can be grouped into:

• prohibition signs;
• warning signs;
• prescription regulations (obligation);
• rescue or distress signals;
• information signals;
• additional characters.

In this article, we focus on danger and warning signs.

Danger and warning signs

The danger sign is characterized by red color and warns of a dangerous situation or signals an arrest (Alt).

Warning signs instead indicate situations in which special attention or checks are required. The color of this type of signals is yellow.

Regardless of the type of tag, the basic requirement of security tags is their effectiveness.

When are safety tags effective?

To be effective, safety signs, and therefore warning signs, must have two main characteristics: they must quickly communicate an incomprehensible message and they must immediately attract the attention of people in the reference area. In order to do this, it is necessary to follow the rules, such as:

• Use the right amount of signals so as not to interfere with visibility and audibility.
• Do not use conflicting signals so as not to mislead the worker.
• Keep signs clearly visible.

Define a coherent general project of safety at work and thus the signage. Poor design, irrational placement or insufficient number of signs can put workers at risk.

As you understand, the use of adequate and effective security tags is essential.

The latest danger and warning signs

We encounter many problems in some work environments where, for example, there are very high or very low temperatures, where the floors are often dusty or where there are repeated passes of handling vehicles. In these cases, hazards or warning signs created by paint or adhesive may disappear or become barely visible after a short time, posing a potential hazard to personnel.

It is precisely to overcome these situations that we created a type of illuminated safety sign that projects the signs onto the floor, making them always clearly visible and easy to move.

But not only that, one of the latest revolutions is alternating warning and warning signs with intersections based on the specific conditions that occur. In this case, for example, a stop sign lights up when a gate is opened to allow moving vehicles to pass, before it disappears when it is closed to make way for pedestrians to cross.

This is just one of the many applications of light signs.

Discover the entire range here and create a quote.