Why Are Warehouse Safety Signs Important?

Safety signs can be just as important as training on safety procedures within your warehouse. In high-risk, busy environments, with workers moving around, heavy equipment and machinery being used, high shelving (along with a lot more), the potential hazards within your storage space build up. The importance of safety signs should not be understated: with different signs offering important knowledge on different warnings, information and mandatory actions. Due to the fast-moving environment of warehouses, proper signage helps ensure efficient workflow, in addition to keeping employees safe.

Ultimately, they are essential for maintaining compliance with the Health and Safety Regulations 1996 – which offers guidance on the regulations that you should be taking. This states that safety signs are required in cases where, despite all other relevant safety measures being implemented, there remains a significant risk to health and safety of employees.

Mandatory Actions

Mandatory action signs are blue signs that reveal the specific behaviour required in that area to keep everyone safe. Within a warehouse, examples could include:

· Ear protection must be worn

· Hard hat must be worn

· Eye protection must be worn

· High visibility clothing must be worn

· Protective equipment must be worn

· Keep this area clear at all times

Mandatory signs show and highlight what action is required and can be specific to a certain area within the warehouse. These signs are helpful in reminding the team within your storage space what PPE is required, and allows them to stay alert of the regulations they must follow.

Hazard and Warning Signs

Hazard and warning signs present themselves as yellow and black triangles, and are placed where there is the potential of any danger in the warehouse. The most common examples of these include:

· Danger: electrical hazards

· Danger: flammable material

· Caution: hazardous area

· Caution: forklift trucks in operation

These signs are made specifically to warn everyone within your warehouse of the possible dangers posed by specific machinery or areas. This increases your workers’ understanding of the potential dangers, and encourages them to take extra care when operation within these areas, or with certain machinery.

Safety Information Signs

Safety signs are green, and offer useful information on how to stay safe. Examples of types of safety information signs are:

· In case of fire, break glass

· Emergency telephone

· Fire or emergency assembly point

· Point of refuge

· First aid kit here

Providing safety signs with instructions to follow in the case of an emergency increases the safety within your warehouse. Informing people within your storage space on directions to go if there is an emergency removes elements of confusion and can offer vital information on where to locate certain necessities, such as first aid kits.

Prohibition Signs

Red prohibition signs are ones which highlight behaviours that are likely to increase the potential of danger or be the cause of it. Prohibition signs for warehouses allow staff to be aware of the health and safety regulations that should be followed, and the clear and appropriate imagery, often a red circle with a line running through it, highlights the activities that are not permitted in that area.

Red signs allow staff to remain aware of the risks in the workplace and behaviour that increases risks to safety, and this allows them to stay as safe as possible. This includes examples of:

· No operating

· No smoking

· No mobile phones

· Do not use this lift in the event of a fire

· Forklift trucks prohibited

· Do not climb racking

· Do not operate

Implementing the correct safety signs in your warehouse is of paramount importance in order to create that safety culture, which ensures efficient workflow within your storage space, and most importantly, the safety of everyone within that space.

Contact Us

We can help you create that infinitely important safety culture within your warehouse – ensuring that you receive a top-quality service, with health and safety prioritised at each step.

Contact the team at DC Space & Storage Solutions today, and speak directly to a team member to get the answers on those all-important storage space inquiries.