Safety signs Archives

Visual management is one of the essential elements of our work and home lives. Some of us may not notice it but we make use of visual management in our day to day life. Visual management is a way to visually communicate expectations, performance, standards, or warnings in a way that requires little to no prior training to interpret the intended message.

You may have heard the term with regard to the working environment, especially factories and manufacturing units, yet it’s readily used in a wide range of regular situations. You’ve most likely used scores of visual management tools today as of now without even knowing about it. For example, road signs, name boards, road markings, no parking boards, signboards, traffic signals, etc. are some of the examples of visual controls.

Visual management boards are the key communication tools in a lean structure they are expected to give you data at a glance. There are a few distinct kinds of visual management boards, including boards for continuous improvement, project status, and point-of-use tools, etc.

Visual management services are not only limited to the factories but it has also been proven to make improvements in work cultures and made processes lean in various facilities such as warehouse, corporate offices, commercial apartment, hospitals, school, Residential complex, etc. Visual management at any facility includes Visual tools such as Posters and signages, informative boards, compliance boards,

Safety Sign Board

A safety sign is a display of information or instruction with minimal to no text. Combination of various shapes, colors, symbols, and pictograms are used to make safety signs Depending upon the situations these signs can be classified into Prohibition Signs, Mandatory Signs, Warning Signs, and Emergency Signs. The main purpose of having safety signs in the work environment is to identify and warn employees who might be exposed to threats and hazards in the work environment.

Safety Posters

Safety posters and charts are commonly used in the workplace with an intention to aware the employees about the important safety aspects of the nature of the work. It also alerts the viewers about the actions to be taken in case of an emergency situation. Safety posters are designed according to the industry and the nature of the work. It also creates awareness regarding safety and social responsibilities among the employees and makes them feel secure and confident, thereby supporting the quality and productivity of the process.

Informative boards

Informative boards are developed especially as per the key performance indicators of the process. It is the top-line perspective on how key divisions are following against their general target, this data is then refined to identify waste processes and areas of improvement. which shows senior management precisely the performance of the overall process. This measure mentions to individuals what actions need to be taken, and the impact that the actions that are being taken are having. It likewise highlights quickly any circumstance that happens that will compromise the achievement of an activity, permitting it to be fixed in the minimum time.

Compliance Boards

compliance boards are the proof of conformance by the organizations with the laws and litigations of the associations and governing bodies. It can be conformance related to health, safety and environment and organization’s work instructions and policies to shows their contribution towards the eco-social and safety wellbeing of its employees.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) guarantee consistency. They give a standard by which all work is measured, and an establishment from which upgrades can be made. Without them ambiguity is inevitable as staff, shifts and priorities change, and these varieties bring about quality issues, equipment failures, neglected performance targets, and safety concerns. Some of the benefits of SOP’s are as follows

They save time and money,
They provide consistency,
They improve communication,
They create a safer work environment.

Visual management thus plays an important role in any facility as it makes the system lean, it reduces the waste processes and improves the overall efficiency of the system. It makes the system mistake-proof and safe and easy to understand even for new individuals. Visual management projects not only make the environment clean and attractive but also adds value to the entire system.

The basic concept of a visual workplace is putting up graphical and illustrative detailing of progress, process or department workflow. According to studies, the visual representation helps employees to understand, retain and reciprocate information more effectively within a short time.

Do you want to implement a visual factory within your premises? Especially, when you are handling heavy equipment and large machinery, the caution booklet will run for pages. You cannot expect every floor worker to be well versed in English to learn those warning instructions. This can be easily rectified with a visual factory.

Visual cues everywhere

You need to pay heed to the safety signs. Whenever your worker steps into a workspace, there should be cues about how to do certain things, what not to do and so on. These visual cues should not be hard to find. Starting from labels on containers to color codes to indicate dangerous equipment, you should cover as much visual information as possible with your cue.

Where should you implement these cues?

1] Walls – Wall safety signs and safety posters about each equipment, caution details and even safety information like ‘wear helmet’ would be effective.
2] Floor – floor markings will help your workers to have excellent communication. For instance, use a blue line for workers moving from equipment A to B to C and so on. Use when a red line for workers moving from equipment C to B to A. This will reduce collision, especially when your workers have heavy objects in their hands. If you want workers to stay away from equipment when it is in use, floor markings would be a good solution.
3] Machines – Do not worry about sticking stickers on your million-dollar equipment. It is for over-all productivity. Should your employee close the lid of your food processing machine before switching it on to avoid spillage? Stick a sticker near the switch reminding them to close the lid. Thus, whenever your worker moves towards the switch, the sticker will act as a reminder.
4] Ceilings – The visual cues in ceilings are usually for pipe and wire markings. In the case of any hanging equipment, you can use it to indicate the maximum load to add.

Update visual cues

There are two reasons to update visual cues regularly. Your factory environment can fade out the informative boards. Just a yellow circle on the wall would not mean anything if the writing or the symbol on it has faded away. The second reason is human perception. If a visual cue has been in a single position for quite a long time, the human brain tends to overlook it. It is quite similar to the concept of people who live near the beach will adapt themselves to not hear the wave sound. Updating cues and using new stickers would induce their brain to pay more attention.

Say, you have a blue line and a red line on the floor. What is the point of those markings if your employee is not aware of what each color stands for? Always educate them about the cues. There is nothing wrong with having a periodic seminar or workplace training to refresh their memory. Every new employee should be trained about every single visual cue in the factory; even those which are not in his area of work.

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