When it comes to safety signage, let’s make one thing clear right from the start: Signs are not to serve as substitutes for safe conditions. For example, signs are never intended to take the place of machine safeguarding. Nor should you settle on using a sign to caution about hazards that could have been abated so that no sign would have been needed to begin with.
With all uses of signs, keep focused on the ultimate goal: to convey very specific information in unambiguous terms. Be 100 percent sure that the words, pictures, diagrams, schematics, symbols or codes are fully comprehensible to everyone who needs to gain the knowledge intended to be imparted by the sign. The caution, instructions or other category of message should be clear without the need for consulting another person. However, all employees must know that they can — and are absolutely expected to — contact the relevant personnel if they do not totally understand the meaning of a sign.