Safety signs are placed on walls throughout every facility, office, and business. But what about this surprising surface?

Just like you eventually stop noticing the sound of airplanes when you live close to the airport, people stop really seeing signs when they all look the same and have been in the same spots for years. It’s time to add an element of surprise to your safety signs and make use of some largely untapped display space – your floors.

If you think that no businesses use floor signs for their safety signage, you would be wrong. However, floor signs are used much less frequently than standard wall signs, and that’s precisely what makes them so useful.

Here are six ways you can take advantage of your floor space to strategically place safety signs in your workplace.

1. Emergency Routes & Exits

In the event of a fire or other emergency, your emergency routes and exits must be easy to find. With directional floor signs, anyone can find out where they need to go even in a smoke-filled room. You can even get glow-in-the-dark signs to make it easy for people to find their way even when the lights are out.

2. Traffic Patterns for Pedestrian or Forklifts

Forklifts can be extremely dangerous. Using floor tape or signs can help to map out the standard forklift routes. It’s also an easy way to direct foot traffic in a long line waiting for areas or anywhere you want people to follow a specific course or direction.

3. Slip Hazard Areas

Do you have one area of your facility where the floor tends to get wet frequently and is very slippery when that happens? Instead of pulling out that portable sign every time it happens, which may be too late, put a permanent floor sign there to mark the area as “slippery when wet.” You can choose non-slip floor signage for added safety.

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SAFETY SIGNAGE & IDENTIFICATION

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4. Do Not Block

There’s nothing more frustrating than having someone park a car or a load right in front of a door or any area where you need to work. Make life easy on yourself and place a permanent “Do Not Block” floor sign in those trouble spots to let people know to keep that area clear. Problem solved.

5. Floor Load Limit

All floors have load limits, but most are not in danger of surpassing that weight on a typical day. But in some areas such as loading docks or warehouses, large quantities of goods could stack up and create problems. Make it easy for anyone working in these areas to find the information they need and put the floor load limit on a sign and stick it to the floor. It’s easy to see and easy to understand.

6. Laser Line Projectors

Brightly colored laser lines are an ideal long-lasting solution when floor tapes or paint won’t work. They can safely be used to mark aisles and walkways in warehouses, production floors and manufacturing facilities and replace the time-consuming task of taping and/or painting. Furthermore, projected lines can be easily maneuvered and adjusted based on the needs of the workplace.

Laser Line Projectors

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To Calculate Line Projection Length:

Mounting Height (in feet) x 2.4 = Approximate Line Length
For longer, continuous line lengths, mount additional projector(s) at intervals to overlap the ends of lines.

Line width is dependent on mounting height.
Example: 6 1/2-ft H =15 3/5-ft L x 3/4” W

Laser Line Projection Lengths

Mark Boundaries for PPE Areas

If you have certain parts of your facility that require protective eyewear, hardhats, or any other PPE, you need to have those areas distinctively marked as such. People who do not know that the site is a PPE-required area won’t know to look for signs. The signs need to jump out at them and be impossible to miss. Brightly-colored floor signs catch the eye and get your message across clearly.

Directions to Emergency Stations and Equipment

You probably show all of your employees the emergency stations and emergency equipment like AED, fire extinguishers, or eyewash stations during the onboarding process, but that’s no guarantee that they’ll remember it when they need it the most. Directional floor signs that point to these essential items serve as daily reminders, so when an emergency hits, every employee knows where to find the emergency equipment needed.

Floor Signs Bring the Element of Surprise

Not only is your floor space a large area of untapped potential for signage, but it also has an added advantage. Since not many businesses are making use of floor space in this way, it’s different, and it catches the eye for that very reason.

The most undeniable truth about safety signs is that people need to see and read them effectively. When they become just another part of the everyday backdrop on walls and equipment, they lose their effectiveness, leading to costly injuries.

Make your floor signs even more effective by customizing your colors, phrasing, and images with Accuform’s Custom Floor Sign Builder.

If you have questions or are not sure what kind of floor signs will work best for your facility, call 800-523-5367 to speak to an Arbill Safety Advisor.

Have a Safe Day!