ISO 3864-1 & ISO 3864-2 Compliance
Why is the ISO 3864-1 standard important?
Compliance with the ISO 3864-1 standard is important because it means that the use of your signage can be understood around the world, by workers of any language.
ISO 3864-1, Safety Colors and Safety Signs, Part 1: Design Principles for Safety Signs and Safety Markings helps to provide best practices for the design of safety identification both in public and in the workplace. ISO 3864-1 standards apply to most safety signs, including those for accident prevention and emergency response.
This standard describes how symbols can be displayed with supplemental text, multiple images for more than one potential hazard, and the safe viewing distances of compliant signs and labels.
Having a unified code for the design of these signs helps to reduce reaction time and increase comprehension of these signs. This is especially important in regards to potentially hazardous situations in the workplace and for reacting to emergency situations.
ISO 3864-2 Supplements ISO 3864-1
ISO 3864-2 focuses on the specific design of product safety labels in addition to the best practices set by ISO 3864-1.
The purpose of ISO 3864-2 Safety Colors and Safety Signs, Part 2: Design Principles for Product Safety Labels is to provide guidelines for the safety labels on any manufactured product, including industrial equipment that might be found in the workplace, in addition to the standards set by ISO 3864-1.
This includes layouts for product safety labels, information about hazard severity panels (safety headers), and topics such as the replacement of these labels.
The ISO 3864-2 standard adds orange as one of the safety colors that can be used on signs and labels for the use in Warning hazard panels.
ISO 3864-2 describes the need to choose appropriate hazard panels. They are as follows:
- Danger
- a hazard with a high risk of injury or death if not avoided.
- Warning
- a hazard with a medium risk of injury or death if not avoided.
- Caution
- a hazard with a low risk of minor or moderate injury if not avoided.
Regarding the durability of product safety labels and their replacement, ISO 3864-2 recommends that labels be replaced after the safety message is no longer legible from a safe viewing distance.
SafetySign.com uses UL® Recognized materials on many of our safety labels, which resist abrasion, heat, and exposure to mild chemicals that can make your label fade and wear away. SafetySign.com labels have been tested to ensure their durability in the workplace.
Further reading:
International Organization for Standardization website
SafetySign.com does not recommend or specify the use of a specific safety sign because it does not have knowledge of the hazard(s) our customers are identifying. It is the customer’s sole responsibility to identify the hazard(s) that may be present and select one or more signs (stock or custom) that accurately identify their specific hazard(s) and complies with any applicable federal, state or local laws or regulations, any worksite specific rules or regulations and/or any applicable safety standards (including, without limitation, ANSI and/or OSHA standards). SafetySign.com disclaims any and all liability (excluding liability for our Product Warranty contained in our Terms and Conditions) for any sign selected by a customer and shall not be responsible for any personal injury or property damage resulting from the use of signs purchased from it or for the independent interpretation made of any applicable federal, state or local laws or regulations, any worksite specific rules or regulations, and/or any applicable safety standards (including, without limitation, ANSI and/or OSHA standards). Customer shall indemnify and hold SafetySign.com and its corporate parent and its officers, directors and affiliates harmless from and against any and all claims, loss or expense (including attorneys’ fees) arising from or related to the purchase and use by customer or any third party of any sign purchased by customer from SafetySign.com.
