|
To make people aware of any hazards that exist in the physics departments in schools, it is important to have mandatory signs displayed prominently warning of potential dangers. Other control measures such as safe systems and engineering controls may be in place, but signs warning of any hazards must be put up. Each hazard sign has a different shape, colour and symbol picture to that there can be no misunderstanding when reading the same. Since laboratories and physics departments work with a large range of hazardous material anyone using these areas needs to be made aware of the dangers and take precautionary measures. Important signs • Prohibition: Physics Departments must display a sign warning that no drinking or eating has to take place in the Department. In case there are areas in the department for write-up, additional signs will be needed for such areas. • Since a good amount of flammable material is used in laboratories, a sign warning saying “Naked flames are prohibited” should be displayed. • Protective personal equipment is required to be worn by all laboratory staff such as laboratory coats and special eye protection. Hazardous materials All laboratories and physics departments will have hazardous chemicals in use. Normally a general warning of the same is sufficient. However, laboratories containing large quantities of toxic, flammable, oxidising and corrosive material should have this information displayed additionally on the entrance door. Laboratories working with biological material should also display a bio hazard sign as a warning. The sign should also indicate the level of containment in the laboratory. Another mandatory sign is used for ionising radiation. Laboratories use open-sources and x-ray equipment which should be displayed on the sign. In the case of any danger erupting, details of the Supervisor for radiation protection should also be displayed. If the laboratory is dealing in ionising radiations with closed sources, an additional sign should be displayed internally. Dangers such as electromagnetic fields, infrared light, non-ionising radiations etc. should be displayed on special signs at the laboratory entrance. Standard wording and letters used for mandatory signs There is a standard procedure for wording all signs. The words should be brief and the lettering used large enough so that they can be seen from a distance. Abbreviations should be used as little as possible and messages with words should not contain any question marks, periods, apostrophes, ampersands or other characters or punctuations that are not numerals or characters. General While mandatory hazard signs are important, they cannot be used as a substitute for actual training of the workforce. The signs are mainly a reminder to be cautious when entering such areas and as such need to be composed of simple graphics which will fare much better than any complex instruction. Regarding mandatory signs in the work place, the colours used are the same the world over. There is the colour RED which heralds immediate danger. AMBER or YELLOW warns that precautionary measures have to be taken for safety. BLUE signifies an instruction that accompanies warning or danger signs. GREEN is the safety sign – it is used to point out an escape route or in a medical facility, where first aid is available. All places of work which have potential danger situations should display the above signs and ensure the safety and health of their staff.
Related Articles -
Mandatory, Signs,
| 
