Warning Signs

Emergency Signs in the Workplace

There are frequent hazards are in the workplace. These can include moving vehicles, machinery, sudden drops and deep water. Providing clear warnings for these is good health and safety practice and will help to reduce the incidence of workplace accidents. Warning signs are a simple but effective product that can alert everyone on the site to the presence of danger.

Legal Requirements for Warning Signs

Warning everyone on your premises of the presence of a hazard is a legal obligation and covered by UK and EU safety regulations. Sometimes it may be difficult to feel certain that you have fulfilled your obligations, with regards to ensuring you have complied with all safety mandates. You can rest assured that all of our warning signs, hazard signs and beware signs comply with current health and safety rules.

When placing your warning signs, refer to the warning signs UK legal guidelines on safety signs and signals. It is important to follow these guidelines closely both to ensure the safety of your workplace, and for liability reasons. It is important to also have an ongoing plan in place for warning signals and safety signs. This includes regular maintenance checks to ensure that the signs remain visible, clean and undamaged. Also, it is very important to make sure that all employees, including contractors, on the site are familiar with the warning signs and what they convey. Ideally, this would involve training sessions to ascertain that everyone is on board and to minimise the potential of human error in the event of a workplace emergency.

Universally Understood Warnings

Our warning signs all feature the well-known hazard triangle with a border. Inside the triangle is either an exclamation mark or a pictogram representing the specific hazard. Underneath, the warning is spelled out in easy-to-read lettering. Combining these signs with our prohibition signs and mandatory signs so that more information is conveyed for specific work environments, communicates to your employees that you are safety conscious. For your convenience, some of our warning signs are multi-message and feature prohibition signs incorporated into them. If you have specific safety needs that you want communicated, you can also opt for our custom made warning signs. To learn more about the type of warning sign triangle and safety signs your workplace needs, you can read our Guide to Warehouse Signage.

Choosing the Right Safety or Warning Sign

The range of warning signs comes in a number of different materials, including aluminium, which will remain rust free, and vinyl, which is ideal for applying to curved surfaces. The various materials are all designed for different purposes. Along with the more traditional acrylic, plastic and aluminium signs, we also have foamed plastic, correx fluted and polyester signs. To make your workplace a more accessible place for the community, you can also choose our tactile and braille signs.

You can learn more about the materials our signs are made of, and how to choose the right sign, in our Signs Materials & Finishes Guide. Once you have chosen the right sign material, there are sign fixings available that will allow you to display your sign on virtually any surface.

Additionally, you also have a number of options for the finish of your chosen sign. You can use a vandal-resistant finish to protect them from deliberate or accidental damage, or a reflective finish to increase night-time visibility. We also have highly reflective signage options and signs that glow in the dark – this finish is ideal for illuminating emergency exits, escape routes and equipment for when the power fails.

For times when a temporary solution is required, we have a range of floor stands that encompass many of the messages found in our other signs. With warning signs suitable for both internal and external use, the versatility of our range delivers hazard signs to you for any situation.

In addition to floor stands, Seton also offers a number of highly versatile and visible warning mats for traffic and vehicles. These mats are backed with 100% nitrile rubber, ensuring that once placed, they stay put. The mats are thin enough at 20mm, however, to not be a tripping hazard in the workplace ensuring the warning signs safety.

However, with the vast number of different potential hazards, there could be circumstances where a more creative approach is required. In this instance, take advantage of our custom sign service. These signs will still comply with the health and safety regulations and will display the pictogram and text that you require, chosen from a myriad of options.

Appropriate Management and Consideration of the Human Factor

Using warning signs will alert everyone to potential hazards on your premises and allow them to take the appropriate action to avoid or minimise the risks. To ensure that everyone knows how to modify their actions in the hazardous areas, we have an extensive range of signs.

These provide a wealth of information, from instructions on what safety gear to use, as found in our range of general protective clothing and face protection signs, to actions that must or must not be carried out in those areas, such as prohibition signs specifically dealing with machine safety.

As always with workplace safety, staff training is also key to proving the usefulness of warning protocols. It is important to make sure that all site staff are familiar with the warning signs used on site and are trained in what to do in the event of an emergency. During an emergency, this will minimise the potential for human error or confusion when recognising a warning sign.

What to Consider When Placing Warning Signs

All workplaces and workers are different, and your placement of warning signs should take this into consideration as the workplace needs to be made safe for all. The following are a few of the considerations you should make when placing your warning and safety signs:

• Condition – it is important to routinely assess the condition of your warning signs. UV damage, weather exposure, vandalism and corrosion can all render an important sign illegible.


• Human variabilities – not all of your workers or workplace visitors are going to be the same height – therefore it is important to make sure that, no matter where the warning signs are placed, everyone can view them easily and clearly.


• Clarity – when placing warning signs, it is important for the information to be presented as clearly and accurately as possible. This means ensuring that the types of warning signs needed in certain zones are appropriate for the hazard. Also, if the signs are posted to indicate a direction, there should not be any ambiguity on the correct direction to take. Make sure that any ambiguity is dispelled through sign placement.

While it is impossible to eliminate the risk of accidents completely, a good health and safety strategy can go a long way to significantly reducing that risk. Displaying sufficient, clear warning signs in hazardous areas is a valuable part of your strategy and can help protect assets and save lives.