or maybe you want a safety sign.

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New to safety signs?

Signal Words

Short version:

1. Is personal injury a credible possibility? No: NOTICE, Yes: next step
2. Is death or serious injury a credible possibility? No: CAUTION, Yes: next step
3. If an accident occurs, is death or serious injury almost certain? No: WARNING, Yes: DANGER

For hazard alerting signs, the signal word is selected according to the risk presented by the hazardous situation that the safety sign addresses. That is, signal word selection is based on the risk posed if the safety sign is not followed. The risk is determined based on:
a. worst credible severity if an accident occurs;
b. probability of an accident if the hazardous situation occurs (i.e., if the safety sign is not followed);
c. probability of the worst credible severity occurring.

• DANGER indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, will result in death or serious injury
• WARNING indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in death or serious injury
• CAUTION indicates a hazardous situation which, if not avoided, could result in minor or moderate injury
• NOTICE is used to address practices not related to physical injury

The text...

• The information required on a safety sign should be arranged to provide the most important information first. The statement concerning the consequences of interaction with the hazard is generally best understood when placed after the hazard description statement, or used integrally with the hazard description statement. As a general rule, the hazard message should come first when there are many feasible action/avoidance alternatives. However, action/avoidance messages should come first when there are few avoidance alternatives.
• Write in a "headline style," eliminating nonessential words and pronouns (this, that, they), articles (a, the, an), and forms of the verb to be (is, are, were). Avoid hyphenation when at all possible.
• The action statement gives the viewer instructions on how to avoid the hazard. The statement should be simple, direct, and applicable to the hazard. "Keep Out!" "Keep away" "Wear hard hats" "No smoking" "Do not operate"
• The hazard description statement identifies the specific hazard in clear, simple language. Where the desired action and the consequence of not avoiding the hazard are obvious from the hazard description statement (such as "Slippery when wet"), the action and consequence statements may be omitted. "Hazardous voltage inside" "Confined space" "Laser radiation" "Hot pipes above"
• The consequence statement tells the viewer in clear, simple language what will happen if the warning is ignored. "Will burn" "Can cause serious burn or death" "Exposure can cause nausea, dizziness, and a headache"
• Write sentences in the active voice rather than the passive voice. This means placing the subject of the sentence first, the action (verb) next, and the object (noun) last. Often the subject "you" or "your" can be inferred from the sentence and is unnecessary.
• Avoid the use of prepositional phrases. Prepositional phrases can often be eliminated or replaced with one word.
• The preferred format for text is the use of mixed upper and lower case where only the first letter of the first word in a sentence is capitalized. The use of all upper case letters for the word message is discouraged because it is more difficult to read quickly than lower case type. On occasion, a single word or phrase may be set in upper case letters to provide emphasis.

Type of Hazard and Consequence Statement   Avoidance Statements	Moving parts can crush and cut Keep out during operation Lockout power before entering		Keep Out Hazardous voltage inside Can shock, burn, or cause death	Avoidance Statement Type of Hazard Statement   Consequence Statement
Word Message with Hazard Description First			Word Message with Hazard Avoidance Message First

Rev 1: created image as separate file to facilitate downloading and sharing.

Rev 2: Fixed some of the red cross-out symbols becoming transparent.