Warehouse Signs | Warehouse Safety Signs

Maintain safety and order with warehouse signs

Warehouses can pose numerous hazards from heavy machinery to moving vehicles, every section of a warehouse and can be potentially dangerous.

Proper warehouse signage is essential, not only to safeguard both workers and visitors, but also for ensuring the efficient and smooth running of warehouse operations. It helps to prevent accidents, reinforce workplace policies and ensure everyone on site knows how to respond in an emergency.

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What are the different types of Warehouse signs?

There are a variety of different types of warehouse signage, each having a different purpose from maintaining safety, providing guidance or communicating essential information.

Warning Signs for Warehouses

Warning signs for warehouse sites could help to prevent accidents by alerting individuals to specific dangers or hazards. Warning signs include a yellow triangle with a black border and black symbols and can commonly be found:

Near automated systems such as conveyor belts, these signs may say “moving machinery”
In forklift operating areas to prevent accidents with pedestrians
In areas where items are stored overhead.
After cleaning for example, wet floor signs

Safety Signs for Warehouses

Safety signs can ensure PPE compliance and reinforce safety procedure in warehouses. They display mandatory actions and typically are blue circles with white icons or text, some safety signs in warehouses include:

Hi-vis vest required
Hard hat area in zones with risk of falling objects
Wear eye protection in cutting areas
Wear ear protection in loud noise environments

Warehouse Emergency Signs

Emergency signs are green rectangles or squares with white symbols or text on. They direct people to safety equipment or safe escape routes in the event of an emergency. In a warehouse environment you can expect to find the following emergency signs:

First aid or eye wash stations.
Fire exits and evacuation routes.
Fire assembly points.
Locations of wall mounted fire extinguishers and fire alarm call points.

Directional Signage

Sometimes large warehouses can be hard to navigate for new employees, contractors or delivery drivers. Directional warehouse signage helps with the flow of traffic and directs employees and visitors to areas within the warehouse. Some directional signage in warehouses can include:

Entrance and exit signs.
One way or pedestrian path signs.
Loading bay numbers or other identifiers such as aisle numbers.
Delivery points to help delivery drivers.

Informational Signs

Informational signs are a form of custom warehouse signs that communicate important site related details, either tailored to the warehouse or common signs such as:

Site manager contact details
Keep clear notices outside of emergency exits or machinery
No smoking signs
Visitor sign in instructions

Regulatory Signs for Warehouses

Regulatory signs for warehouses are important to communicate legal or operational restrictions and ensure compliance with workplace health and safety laws on site. The type of regulatory signs in warehouses include:

Authorised personnel only.
Speed limit signs.
PPE must be worn.

Mitchells caution signage

What warehouse signs do I need?

Warehouses require a wide variety of different types of signs and each one plays an important role. With warehouses often being a busy and fast paced environment with employees working quickly and often operating heavy machinery too, warehouse signage helps to keep employees and visitors safe. Some warehouse signage can include:

Warning / Danger Signs such as overhead hazard signs or high voltage signs.
Guide Signs such as detour arrows or to help with navigation around a warehouse.
Safety Signs such as hard hats required or fire safety signs.
PPE signs such as wearing helmets, goggles or gloves.
Traffic area signs such as forklift areas.
Notice signs such as reminders for all visitors to sign in.
Hazard Signs such as high noise areas, falling objects or slippery floors.

How to choose warehouse signs?

There are four things to consider when choosing warehouse signs:

Compliance

Signs in your warehouse must be compliant with regulations for your area, as well as meet health and safety standards. They must use the correct standardisation such as colours, shapes and symbols. It’s important to ensure your signs are compliant to avoid fines and penalties, as well as keeping employees and visitors protected. Your signage should be regularly reviewed to ensure they are still compliant with the latest legislation.

Visibility

Make sure your signs are visible at all times, not obstructed by anything and can be clearly seen. The size of your signage should also be considered to improve visibility. Placing small health and safety signs on walls or doors within a kitchen area might be sufficient, but if you’re expecting a whole warehouse to see signage from a distance, ensuring they can be read near and far is critical to ensure the safety of employees and visitors.

Durability

Signage in warehouse environments in particular are subject to fluctuating temperatures, dust, and impact from machinery which is why it’s important when choosing material for your signs. Some signage types are more suitable indoors such as PVC or vinyl stickers, where as aluminium signs are more suited to tougher outdoors environments. Your outdoor signs in particular need to be able to withstand all environmental conditions. Secure fixings can also prevent signs from being removed.

Clarity

It’s vital that signage within your warehouse is clear and easy to read for fast recognition in areas where workers may be moving quickly or occupied operating machinery. Your signs should avoid jargon and stick to sharp, short phrases. Visual cues such as symbols can help to quickly convey the message. Warehouse signs also need to be consistent in style through the site and be legible with a bold, easy to read font with sufficient spacing between letters.