Fire risk assessments are not only about evacuation routes and extinguishers. Flammable warning signage plays an important role in minimising accidents in industrial settings. So, here are the best practices for displaying these signs.
The legal baseline: DSEAR
The DSEAR (Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations) is the primary UK legislation covering fire and explosion risk from dangerous substances at work, and it's enforced directly by the Health and Safety Executive. It applies wherever a dangerous substance is present and the scope covers a lot more workplaces than many realise. It includes everything, from flammable chemicals in a lab to waste dusts in manufacturing and even storing flammable goods like aerosols in retail units.
Under DSEAR, employers have a specific duty around identification and control of dangerous substances in a workplace, taking the necessary measures to protect their employees. Ideally the number of employees exposed to risks would be kept at minimum but, where it’s impossible to avoid, it’s the employer’s responsibility to ensure staff are always informed of potential risks, and having flammable warning signage for industrial environments is a simple but effective solution for this.
Where should flammable warning signs go?
DSEAR sets out a hierarchy of control measures and "avoid ignition sources" sits close to the top, right after reducing the quantity of dangerous substances present. Signage is the first line of defence against someone unknowingly bringing an ignition risk into a hazardous zone (e.g. a delivery driver having a cigarette).
The positioning, in particular, is extremely important. A warning sign should not be placed on a door which is often left open, meaning it’s not visible at all times. Equally, it should not be on a wall that often has vehicles or stacked palettes covering it. So, where should they go? Here are some good practices to follow:
- Place signage in areas that are never obstructed by anything and always visible (including in low-light conditions).
- Signs should sit at eye level, making them immediately noticeable and obvious (typically at around 1.5 to 2 meters from the ground).
- There should be enough coverage throughout the space, including early enough to give people a chance to react before reaching a hazard (i.e. entry points and pathways into the danger area).
- Signage should also be placed directly on or adjacent to the hazardous substances or equipment, helping staff identify the source of danger easily.
Signage design and materials
In addition to placement, the signage itself must meet the safety standards:
- Use signage with universally recognisable colours and pictograms, such as the bright yellow triangle sign with a fire pictogram and “Flammable” writing or the red “No Smoking” sign with a cross over a cigarette pictogram.
- Material choice should match the environment (if the signs are outdoors, they must be weatherproof, meaning they won’t damage in the rain or fade due to UV exposure). Equally, signage near heat sources or machinery needs to survive without warping.
- The sign itself and any writing within it must be big enough to be readable from a distance.
- Introduce regular maintenance of the warning signage (i.e. old or discoloured signs should be replaced regularly).
Organisations may also create custom signs or labels according to their unique operations and needs. However, the customisations should also be following the above best practices too.
Building it into the routine
As a business, your job is to keep your workforce safe at all times. Failure to do so can lead to significant fines and reputational losses or, even worse, serious accidents that could have been prevented. Therefore, fire safety signage should become a routine part of all health and safety procedures in the workplace.
DSEAR requires employers with five or more team members to assess their fire risks regularly and record significant findings. That record should map directly onto where your signage goes - if a zone is flagged as hazardous in the assessment, it needs to be marked as such on the floor. It's worth revisiting that mapping whenever a process changes, new equipment arrives, new products are stocked or a storage area gets repurposed. That’s because a sign that is accurate now can become outdated in the next few years.
Training matters just as much as the signage itself. HSE guidance is clear that employers must give workers the findings of the risk assessment and information on the control measures in place, not just post a symbol and assume it gets noticed. New employees and contractors, especially, need a quick walk-through of what each sign means before they're anywhere near a hazardous area.
Safety-based culture
Effective flammable signage is ultimately about creating a workplace where safety becomes instinctive rather than reactive. When signs are visible, understood by all staff and kept aligned with the changing risks, they become an active part of preventing incidents, rather than just something you tick off the compliance checkbox.
