OSHA & ANSI Industrial Safety Signage: Requirements & Standards

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) provides standards for safety signs, posters, labels and tags for industrial use. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) enhances OSHA requirements by standardizing colors, designs and dimensions.

Types

• OSHA requires three categories of safety signs. Danger signs warn against an immediate safety hazard such as explosives or flammable materials. OSHA requires these signs to be red, black and white in color. Caution signs are intended to warn workers of a possible hazard such as hard hat area, lead hazard or chemical storage area. These signs have a yellow background with black letters. Safety instruction signs are typically green with white letters. They are used for informational purposes such as the location of an eye wash or first aid station.

Size

• The size of the sign or label depends on the distance required to read it. The words Danger or Caution should be large enough to read from a distance 150 times the height of the word. If you need to read it 50 feet away, the letters must be at least 4 inches tall.

Placement

• Safety signs, labels and tags must be placed so workers can heed them before exposure to the hazard. They must be in plain sight and printed in languages encompassing workforce diversity.