Workplace Health and Safety Signs Stop the Most Common Workplace Accidents

Injuries at work can happen for a multitude of reasons, but there are some commonalities in workplace accidents in the West. Workplace health and safety signs are put in place to combat the most probable causes of workplace injury; despite this, businesses often still follow improper practice, leading to injuries occurring often.

Having the correct variations of labels and tapes is an important first step in ensuring your workplace is following HSE standards. Otherwise, you or your workers could fall foul to one of these common, sometimes career-threatening, risks. Find out how to identify and control these risks below:

Working at Height

Working at height accounts for 20% of fatalities in the workplace. When working at height, there is always a risk, but this can be reduced by using proper safety protocols, labelling and due care. While the impact to employee health is paramount to a business’s concerns, falls from height can put significant strain on finances and manpower; falls from height account for 230 cases of over-3-day sick leave per year which equates to a lot of money wasted.

Ladders are the largest culprit, accounting for 40% of accidents. Ladders should be regularly inspected by an appropriate ladder inspection record label, but this will not eradicate all possibilities of height-related accidents. Risk factors such as the flooring, positioning ladders near exits and carrying heavy loads contribute, also.

Signs to notify the need for a safety harness, fall arrest equipment or to signpost sudden drops need to be displayed when necessary. 

Ideally, limiting the frequency and requirements for working at height should take priority. Unfortunately, this isn’t a luxury afforded to all workplaces, but making small steps such as cleaning high areas with a foam jet cleaner or moving stock to ground level can make a big difference.  

To supplement proper training and re-training, your employees can stay brushed-up on ladder and height safety via well-placed work at height guides.  These health and safety signs and symbols simply cannot be absent in a modern workplace.

Electrical Risks

Even in workplaces where electrical hazards aren’t obvious, injuries can still occur. A voltage as small as 50V can cause significant consequences to a worker, especially those with pre-existing conditions. 

Preventing electrical injuries is easy with correct labelling. Voltage labels should display the correct measurement on all electrical equipment, instructions for use and risk labels. If workers are notified of these dangers and trained, the potentially fatal consequences of this workplace injury can be prevented.

Forklift and Transit Accidents

In 2017, it was estimated that 25% of workplace transport injuries are a direct result of forklift truck accidents. Usually, accidents occur from improper walkways, poor storage of goods at height, overworked drivers and improper labelling.

Many transit-related accidents can be avoided by correctly labelling how to stack goods with a forklift and identifying clear walkways, as well as being vigilant of transit and forklift speed.

In order to properly signpost areas of the warehouse check out our range of shipping labels, forklift hazard signs and sound horn labels.

Slips, Trips and Spills

Accidental slips and trips in the workplace seem inevitable, but the majority of these cases are not down to human error, but human oversight. On average, they cause 40% of all major injuries in the workplace, the majority of which are avoidable.

Fall prevention signs should be displayed in all places of employment, even ones that aren’t immediately at risk of fall injuries. Non-signposted wet and polished floors, poor lighting, uneven steps, loose carpeting and trailing wires all contribute to this constant t cause of workplace accidents. Our comprehensive stock of signs and labels relating to slips, trips and falls covers all the bases of this ever-growing workplace concern. 

All workplaces have a duty of care for their employees, so don’t skimp out on high-quality labels and signs. Label Source has a 25-year pedigree in the industry, so browse our extensive range and follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest health & safety news.

The “Digital Age” is reliant on speedy access to data, and lots of it. A key part of the infrastructure network needed to transfer this information is via optical fibre cables.

These cables use light pulses generated by lasers or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to transfer data that support telecommunications, the internet and cable television.

The cables are formed of a glass core and have distinct advantages over traditional copper wiring. They have a considerably wider bandwidth, their smaller diameter allows more fibres to be fitted in each cable diameter, and there is no interference between the glass-stranded fibres located in the same cable.

Thus, fibre optic cables provide not only a higher quantity of information transfer but also retained high quality.

On the downside, fibre optic cables are much more fragile and need to be protected from accidental damage. Figuring out how to work with fibre cables is essential for preventing damage to equipment and yourself. More...

Unlike most modern inventions, we can track the history of warning signs all the way back to the prehistoric era. Many cave drawings, hieroglyphics and druidic symbols can all be traced back to some sort of warning sign, similar to warning and hazard labels today. While health and safety seems like a modern construct, labelling and signalling dangers has been present in all of human history.

The Romans, for example, were the first to adopt warning signs for roads, using stonework to measure road distances and hazards. Medieval times had them too - tradesmen of all descriptions required stone tablets outside of their businesses in order to qualify for a licence. It turns out warning and caution signs have carried the same meaning since our earliest days, it’s just easier to understand now!  

Warning Signs in the Early Twentieth Century

Warning and hazard signs, though, truly entered the public consciousness with the invention of cars and the increase in transport. As the world began to be interconnected by the modern transport network, the need for easily-recognisable and standardised labels and signs became essential. This standardisation of road signs had a domino effect which changed the warning sign world as a whole.

As the years went on, signs and labels in the UK began to mimic the standardisation and uniformity of roadside signs, given their success in preventing accidents and managing traffic. As the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) matured, more and more acts were passed, pushing a variety of standardised signs and labels into the workplace.

Acts such as the Agriculture (Safety, Health and Welfare Provisions) Act 1956 and Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 lay the foundation for proper labelling and health and safety in agricultural and industrial industries.

The HSE continued work well into the latter half of the twentieth century, with one of the most famous signs, the green fire exit sign, invented in 1980, which speaks volumes about how fast warning signs change, adapt and interweave with popular culture.

Modern Warning and Caution Signs

The set of regulations we follow today are the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals Regulations) 1996. This is to be followed by all European Union member states, entrusting all businesses to have recognisable warning signs and symbols and ensuring signs have the same meanings across each member state. Brexit is set not to affect these in any significant way.

For warning signs, the regulations define the purpose of warning and caution signs as signs used to make people aware of dangers. These signs may need to follow specifications outset by the Dangerous Substances (Notification and Marking of Sites) Regulations 1990.

All warning signs, in accordance with the 1996 regulations, must have a black band in a triangular shape and a yellow background. The centre of the sign must be filled with a standardised image of the type of hazard in black.

All of Label Source’s products are in line with these 1996 Safety Signs and Signals Regulations and ISO 1710 specifications. Ensuring your workplace is up to date on safety warnings signs and their meanings is paramount.

We’re sure to have a suitable sign or label in our extensive range of warning signs here at Label Source. “Do as the Romans do” and put warning signs to the forefront.

Biohazard accidents, spillages and incidents are always PR nightmares. As well as lawsuits and fines, negative public perception following avoidable biohazard spills can negatively impact sales and revenue. Danger signs and biohazard signs are an important step in preventing said incidents, as well as protecting the health and safety of your employees.

For example, there were 100 biohazard safety breaches at high-security UK laboratories in five years (2009-2014), meaning even the most stringent of workplaces can have severe biohazard safety mishaps. One particular incident involving anthrax was directly caused by poor labelling practices.

What Happened at AHVLAS in 2012?

The anthrax incident occurred in 2012 at the AHVLA (Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency) in Surrey. As a result of poor labelling and logistics, live anthrax was sent out to other labs in places such as York, Bath and Belfast.

At one AHVLA laboratory, the live sample was opened on a workbench, as no biohazard label was attached (the anthrax was assumed to have been killed by heat, which it wasn’t). Thankfully, everyone was safe, but the fact that a government-led agency could make this mistake sent shockwaves across the health and safety world.

An immediate investigation was called, concluding that the incident was caused by the ‘labelling and tracking of biological materials [being] inadequate’. Poor workplace labelling and management led directly to the possible outbreak of an illness, which would have been catastrophic. If proper danger signs and biohazard signs were used, then it could have saved the government’s blushes.

Improper Signage Pays

No lawsuits were pushed forward for this case, although one lab, the Pirbright Institute, suffered from so many health and safety claims, it had to undergo a £100 million refurbishment to pave over long-term issues.

The poor reputation of AHVLA labs, due to improper biohazard control, came to head with a nine-figure cost, when long-term safe workplace practices and danger sign labelling could have been a cheaper, more proactive option.

In terms of private business, handling biohazard incidents in a lax way can mean massive lawsuits and court costs. It is your responsibility to keep employees and customers safe, so be sure to brush-up on danger signs meanings and usages. To learn danger sign meanings, check out our guide to biohazard signs.

Avoid the Consequences by Utilising Proper Danger Signage

Whether you want to notify passers-by of a biohazard material or safely transport sensitive material, we’re sure to have a suitable sign or label in our extensive range here at Label Source. Do your bit to prevent accident and injury occurring by investing in danger signs for biohazard labelling.

Asphyxiation – A major risk in confined spaces

What is confined space? The phrase can bring forward a range of ideas, but it does have an actual definition. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) defines a confined space as “a place which is substantially enclosed (though not always entirely), and where serious injury can occur from hazardous substances or conditions within the space or nearby (e.g. lack of oxygen).” In layman’s terms, confined space contributes greatly to the probability of asphyxiation.

The definition of confined space only answers so much, however. Confined spaces come in many forms such as: manholes, sewers, drains, vats, silos, vessels, boilers, hoppers, tunnels, pipeline, ductwork, shafts, tunnels, equipment housings, freight containers, ballast tanks, cargo holds, pits and trenches. These can found in a range of industries including water treatment and sewerage, agriculture, construction, ports and docks, onshore and offshore oil production, chemical and pharmaceutical production, construction, power generation, manufacturing, plant rooms and mining.

The Confined Spaces Regulations 1997 cover the dangers, safe systems of working and emergency procedures.

The dangers cannot be under-estimated and risk assessments need to be performed to identify one or more of the following conditions including:

• Poor air quality with inadequate ventilation
• Hazards from asphyxiates such as the accumulation of harmful gases or poisonous fumes
• Chemical exposure
• Fire hazards
• Process-related hazards such as release or movement of solid or liquid materials
• Safety hazards from risks, trips and falls, contact with moving equipment or structural hazards
• Physical hazards including excessive noise, temperature, vibration, radiation or poor lighting
• Biological dangers from bacteria or virus infections.

Confined Space in the Workplace

There are many examples of confined spaces in the workplace, which require staff or contractors to perform maintenance or essential operational procedures.

It is essential to test the air quality in confined spaces, especially if there has been any leakage from any packages in transit, residue of fumigants, any vapours from volatile, unstable items of from solvents, oxidation from fermenting, decomposing or rotting contents, or through rusting of the structure, leakage from hoses or cylinders, or toxic fumes from sludge as a result of welding, cutting, cleaning or sanding.

An oxygen-deficient atmosphere is considered to have less than 19.5% oxygen, and should not be entered without use of respiratory apparatus, to aid breathing during duties. Since many gases or vapours are colourless and odourless, it is essential to test the air with a calibrated testing instrument.

If hazardous fumes are detected and cannot be displaced by ventilation (natural or mechanical), breathing apparatus with suitable filters should be used and fitted correctly before any attempted entry. Back up equipment should be readily available if any emergency procedures need to be invoked to rescue anyone from the confined space.

What is a Confined Space Permit?

A confined space permit is needed in order to work in confined spaces. These reserve access to the confined space to only those suitably trained and supervised whilst providing all relevant safety information, maintenance and operating instructions. These should be supplied with correct and functional protective equipment, to perform specified tasks, once all precautions have been taken to isolate energy sources and to monitor the environment and identify potential dangers. Additionally, time limits for the task must be established, with explicit hand over and rescue plans to be communicated.

Label Source’s range of confined space, hazard warning and PPE (personal protective equipment) signs can act as a reminder to staff or contractors of the precautions, potential dangers and essential equipment necessary to safely perform their duties within the confined space.