Chemical Signs

Easy to Understand

Make it clear - It’s important to be able to relay safety messages in a clear and concise manner. By ensuring areas of potential risk have the signage featuring unmistakable warnings you can help to ensure the welfare of your employees and visitors.

Our range of Chemical Signs includes the easily recognisable hazard triangle containing different images within depending on the nature of the hazard. The image inside the triangle can simply feature the standard black X symbol; an instantly recognisable sign of potential harm.

Choosing the right symbol - Alternative images, such as those found on our ‘Warning Corrosive’ Signs, ‘Dangerous Chemicals’ Signs and ‘Danger Acid’ Signs can provide more specific information on the hazard involved. More information, including the name of the chemical, is featured on some chemical signs in clear bold text.

Other signs, such as our ‘Caution Chemical Store Guidance Safety’ Signs provide guidance on the meaning of GHS symbols to help ensure that everyone understands the potential risks while in the hazardous area.

Legislation and Safety Precautions

Taking responsibility - As an employer, you have a legal duty to take steps to protect your workers from chemical injuries by taking measures such as using Chemical Signs. The regulations surrounding health and safety can appear hard to negotiate and leave many companies unsure if their measures are sufficient.

Seton is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of workplace safety signs and equipment. We make sure that all of our products comply with the EU and UK health and safety rules, giving you the peace of mind of knowing that you are doing everything that you can to prevent an accident.

Chemical Signs can be an effective addition to your overall chemical management strategy and will help to prevent accidents. We have a range of Chemical Handling and Storage Equipment to enable your chemicals to be securely stored or moved around the premises. We also have a range of Personal Protective Equipment to protect employees who work with the chemicals.

While all of this will greatly reduce the likelihood of accidents, spills can still occur. Make sure that you can deal with them quickly and efficiently by keeping COSHH and Spill Control Kits always ready.

Materials

Ultimate flexibility - To make our Chemical Signs as versatile as possible, they are available in a range of different materials. We have signs that are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use, as well as photoluminescent (glow in the dark) options ideal for areas of dim lighting, or to continue to provide a warning in the event of a power failure.

We also have a wide range of Sign Fixings available allowing you to position your signs wherever and however you require. For example, our self-adhesive vinyl signs are particularly ideal to fit to the curved sides of chemical cylinders.

With so many different chemicals and related hazards present in chemical industries, you may require a Chemical Sign that is not included in our current range. If so, please contact us. With our custom sign service, we can create a chemical sign to fit with both your requirements and health and safety standards.

Why is chemical signage so important?

There were almost 70,000 non-fatal injuries reported in 2018/19, according to HSE statistics. Although chemical burns and related injuries are not that common overall, they are, of course, a very real hazard in businesses where chemicals are regularly used. Accidents and injuries at work are falling overall and this is probably due to increased awareness regarding health & safety issues, including the use of appropriate signage, and employee training.

However, accidents at work are still a major source of lost productivity, and as an employer, you can be held liable for any accident that happens on your premises. Keep your employees, and other visitors to your premises, safe by ensuring all necessary health & safety measures are in place, including chemical warning signs.

Choosing chemical signage

It’s important to choose chemical hazard signs that are clear, highly visible and suitable for each area of your business. The Health and Safety Executive publishes guidelines regarding the use of pictograph warning signs, indicating which images should be used to warn of specific issues, such as explosive or flammable chemicals, corrosive substances, acute toxicity, and materials hazardous to the environment. Here at Seton, many of our chemical signs incorporate these symbols, making them easy to understand, even at a glance and even when there may be language or literacy barriers.

It’s also important to choose signs that are big and bold enough to stand out, are of a suitable material and contain a clear message. As well as our extensive range of chemical hazard signs, covering a variety of potential hazards, we also supply customisable chemical warning signs, which are highly useful for alerting staff and visitors to specific issues, or displaying a specific safety message you need to convey.

Where should chemical hazard signs be placed?

A chemical warning sign is needed anywhere that there is a potential hazard. This includes areas where work with chemicals is carried out, but also chemical storage areas and any locations that chemicals are transported through. Each business should carry out a careful risk assessment specific to their premises, to ascertain where hazards exist. Then appropriate chemical signs should be installed in any area where there’s a risk. Signs should be clearly visible from a distance and securely fixed. Be aware of the risk of adding too many warning signs, however. Employees can become ‘blind’ to chemical signage if it is overdone.

Employee awareness

Chemical warning signs alone are not enough. It’s important to carry out regular training for all employees who work with chemical hazards or are potentially exposed to them. Training should include basic safety information for working with chemicals, including:

• Keep chemical products sealed and stored appropriately


• Always wear appropriate personal protective equipment


• Do not leave chemical products unattended


• Know how to treat chemical burns, and use emergency safety showers if needed


• Have a safe and efficient procedure for dealing with chemical spills

A sensible, ongoing employee training and awareness programme, along with appropriate chemical warning signs, will go a long way to preventing chemical accidents in the workplace.

Best chemical warning signs to buy

Here at Seton, we have a wide variety of chemical signage to choose from. Here are some of our most popular chemical warning signs.

• Caution chemical store guidance safety signs — Big, bold chemical warning signs, which clearly show each GHS symbol, educate employees regarding specific warning symbols. These include the chemical reaction sign of your choice and signs indicating corrosive or explosive chemicals.


• Custom hazard signs — These can be customised with the hazard symbol of your choice and your own specific wording. They are simple to design and order, via our site, and highly affordable.


• Warning dangerous chemicals reflective signs — This chemical hazard sign includes the universally recognised skull and crossbones warning symbol and the text ‘Warning: Dangerous Chemical". Available in a choice of materials, including vandal-resistant aluminium.

We are always happy to help you choose the best chemical warning signs for your business. If you have any questions, please contact us and have a chat with one of our friendly experts.