Safety signs, tags and warning labels are an essential feature to any plant, and comprise one of its largest and most important assets. It is strange, especially considering their bold red lettering and vivid graphics, that they go so easily overlooked when it comes to managing company investments. In fabrication plant, for example, the investments in signs (including installation and engineering) can be over $2,000,000.
Plant managers should expect the same level of quality of their safety signs as they do of all other equipment. While plants improve and modernize, they continue to buy the same, uninspired sign designs, many of which date back to the 1940s. With so much money invested, and so much at stake, why don’t they demand excellence?
“Sign are signs,” some might say. It is irresponsible to take such a careless approach to such a major investment. Moreover, it is simply not true. Signs can and should be improved. For workers in dangerous plant, signs are not just signs; they are their first line of defense against unsafe conditions. And not using them to provide effective warnings is not just dangerous; it’s bad business.
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