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If you were to guess, what would you say was the number one culprit of injuries at work? Would it be poor electrical wiring, the presence of flammable material, or perhaps heavy machinery? Well, according to the National Safety Council, none of those mentioned came close to unsafe floors and ground surfaces. People slip, tumble and fall every day, resulting in millions of trips to the emergency room every year for hapless workers. The clear danger that industrial facility floors present in and of themselves is aggravated by the other very real perils that lie in wait. To counteract this trend, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has instituted guidelines with regard to the proper marking and identification of floor space, with a view towards the promotion of safety and organization. Safety floor markings, which run the gauntlet from variable floor tape grades to detailed signs that warn or instruct employees, form an essential part of compliance with these initiatives. Let us take aisle marking to start. Rules and regulations demand that aisles be well-marked, are adequately wide for both human and non-human traffic, and are free of obstruction. This ideal situation can be enforced through the use of floor marking tape, that is preferably of excellent quality, so that it can perform its role for a few years without significantly deteriorating. Signs that assist in traffic control are also valuable for this purpose. These include directional arrow signs, signs that designate separate lanes for employees and mobile equipment such as forklifts, and signs that inform people to keep the pathways open. In all such cases, a person is duly apprised of important information. The mere color of floor tape can act as an identifier for either danger or a method of minimizing it. Red tape around an area denotes a possible source of harm, from hazardous chemicals or unsafe equipment. Sometimes, however, one must be a little more detailed about the type of peril, and thus, floor tape is complemented by a sign that tells whether there are flammable objects in the area, someone might get shocked by electricity, or if one is simply more likely to trip and fall because of an uneven floor design. Safety floor markings keep people on their guard, preventing accidents from happening. The layout of an industrial facility must first be organized and clear before you add in all the safety features on the floor, but a good base structure is itself an essential factor for preserving employee welfare. After all, a building could have hundreds of safety signs plastered all over the concrete, but if the fundamentals of the arrangement do not make sense, then all you've got at the end of the day is a jumble of cluttered paths and sections that may confuse people too much for them to worry about their personal well-being. Once this is achieved, practical usage of safety floor markings as they are needed will transform any location into a shining example of risk management.
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