Safety Signs

At today’s facilities and worksites, safety signs play two critical roles:

1. To communicate safety information that reinforces employee, contractor and visitor training, and
2. To provide legally adequate warnings and information so organizations are better protected from liability exposure.

Clarion’s OSHA/ANSI Z535-compliant signs take advantage of our 25+ years of experience designing safety label systems for equipment manufacturers in over 180 industries – and our two decades of leadership on the ANSI and ISO committees that write the national and international standards in this field. By incorporating the most advanced safety sign symbols, color coding and formatting principles into our signs, you can be confident that your Clarion safety sign system will be state-of-the-art.

There’s a theory of liability law associated with product safety that is increasingly being applied to premises. It’s called the “duty to warn.” Essentially what it comes down to is this: when you know of potential hazards that exist on your site or in your facility, you have a duty to warn people about those hazards and how they can avoid them. Clarion has been helping product manufacturers for nearly thirty years now to create legally “adequate” warnings that use the latest standards-based criteria to effectively fulfill the manufacturer’s duty to warn. What’s new is that the OSHA and ANSI standards for facility safety signs have now evolved to include the same design principles that have governed product safety labels for the past three decades – and this means it’s time to update your facility safety signage.

The change in OSHA’s workplace safety sign regulations occurred in 2013. Though updating your signs to ANSI Z535 content and format requirements is not mandated by OSHA, your facility should enact change as soon as possible. The reason: liability. In the U.S., workers compensation insurance covers medical costs associated with an employee’s injury – and employers are, for the most part, protected from lawsuits when employees get hurt. But the nature of our workplaces is changing; subcontractors and temporary workers are increasingly employed at your worksites and facilities. When accidents happen to these people, lawsuits happen. Even if they’re covered by their own insurance, your insurance company will be challenged to take on all or part of the claim (which will directly affect your future insurance rates). And if negligence can be asserted because you didn’t warn these people about potential hazards, criminal charges can be filed and your company’s executives and reputation will be at risk. Using the latest OSHA/ANSI sign formats and ISO-formatted symbols, Clarion sign systems are designed to be noticed and to communicate your important safety messages across language barriers so accidents are better prevented and organizations are better protected from unnecessary liability exposure.

Why Clarion?

When you choose Clarion safety signs, tags and markings, you get:

• Full compliance with OSHA’s 2013 sign and tag regulation update
• Hands-on expertise backed by 25 years of direct experience with customers
• Unparalleled knowledge of U.S. and international standards and codes
• Customized options – for the language, size or material you need

What are the key elements to consider when it comes to your safety signs? Learn more about the use of symbols, formatting and the importance of using best practice standards – straight from the experts at Clarion!