Signage and labeling: Safety tips you need to use today
The importance of signage and labeling is often underplayed or even ignored when a maintenance program is being discussed. Since we are visual creatures and the visual workplace is the direct application of this, we should take a few minutes to go over some reasons and applications for signage and labeling to get more attention in our programs.
Signage can be for several reasons, for instance:
- Regulatory compliance (e.g. personal protective equipment, arc flash, Department of Transportation placarding)
- Access control, such as “Authorized Personnel Only”
- Fire safety, such as extinguisher locations and fire exits
- General safety (e.g. cautions about fork truck traffic)
- Behavior and training purposes (safety reminders and CPR how-to directions)
Labeling is usually more specific but is also varied in use. Examples include:
- Piping labels per ANSI standard
- Equipment labeling for the CMMS
- Storage location labels
- Special tools and tooling
- Safety equipment
- Equipment set points and wear indicators
All of these and more play an important part in achieving your maintenance and reliability goals. Don’t forget that one of the biggest factors in your success is your ability to communicate effectively with your operators and technicians. They need clear direction on proper behavior and actions. A few generic, half-hearted exhortations to “work smarter” or “work safely” look nice on the wall, but do they truly achieve their intent if they are not coupled with specific instructions? Probably not. It takes visible, useful and targeted information to let your people know what you expect from them. In exchange, you have to provide them the tools they need to make it happen. Proper signage and labeling moves your organization in the right direction and does so at a very reasonable price.
Take a look around your maintenance shop first and look for the simple things like the safety posters, the grinder guard safety labels, the special tools storage labels, the fire equipment, oily rag storage, etc., that you could do right away. Then, expand out into areas that are under your control and start putting up the signs and labels that you can see are missing. Go to the various safety sites on the Web and check your general vendors (Brady, Grainger, MSC, Safety Equipment Company and others) for what they offer for ideas. I guarantee that you will see opportunities for everything from flammable materials storage to pinch points, arc flash and many others.
Your piping labels are especially important if your process includes hazardous materials or high pressures and temperatures. Don’t forget the directional arrows for clarity where possible.
Equipment labels pay off big time for your CMMS system and for improving the accuracy of your work orders, as well as assisting your safety program. Putting the identification number or code, a proper description and the power shutoff locations on the tag are the bare minimum.
The ID number gets the work orders written to the right spot, plus it ties together bills of material, standard operating procedures and lockout/tagout procedures plus just about anything else your imagination can connect to that unique piece of equipment.
The proper description gets everyone using the same name for it, and that reduces confusion. Everyone has run into the problem of the new guy that calls it a widget when you call it a whatsit. Save time all around and get everyone on the same page with a simple tag or label.
Power source locations are a big safety item that could help to save an injury or equipment damage by directing people to the shutoff right away. Don’t pass up this opportunity to save time in an emergency.
Your operations partners will recognize the value quickly. Jobs are recorded more accurately, take less time and get done safer. Who could argue with that? They will want to get on the train with you and share in the good results. Plus, it is fairly cheap, can be done with in-house labor, and can be spread out over months or even over multiple budget years.
Remember, reliability doesn’t cost; it pays.
What does your plant do to improve safety? How does it incorporate signage and labeling? Provide your stories - the best practices and the lessons learned - by posting a response to this blog column.
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Filed Under: Featured, Maintenance Excellence | Tags: CMMS, maintenance, reliability, safety, visual workplace
Comments
By Jeff Shiver on May 11th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Bob,
Great post. I can’t count the number of times that I have spent over the years tracing pipes, conduits, and other things due to lack of signage. You mentioned ANSI standards for piping. I would add the standardization of all labels for everything (colors, text size, etc.) to make it more visual. Don’t forget to color code/ label the grease guns and zerk fittings as well.
By Bob Harris on May 14th, 2009 at 11:20 am
Bob,
Great information. After 30-plus years of experience working in the manufacturing environment, I saw where signage and placards provide quantifiable ROI’s when it comes to safety and compliance. A simple and very cost affective way to reduce/eliminate those painful incidents due to safety expectations not being posted at shop equipment stations, equipment operating stations and most importantly, when your employees are entering the work environment (PPE requirements).
By Alex Paulsen on May 14th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
Excellent article. We too often pass over the simple and inexpensive things, but frequently it is these little details that have the most value and certainly the best bang for the buck.
I like the point about using in-house labor, this is great fill in work for slow times ( yeah I know, but sometimes we have slow moments), and the act of doing the marking and identification is a great memory refresher even for seasoned experienced employees.
I’ll look forward to more articles of this nature from you
By Lambert Wang on August 19th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
Hello Bob,
Thank you your article. I wanted to say here is not just for safety but also for machine health management point of view, we need tags with equipment names, lubricant types, warehouse material numbers, or even the installation/replacement date to show the identity. As we know most of time we try to consolidate the type of lubricants so that reduce the inventory/cost, less chance people miss-filled the lube.
In the past several years I used laminated plastic (pouches) to make tags for the equipments in my job area. Efficiency has been improved; less wrong lube fed in has been reduced/prevented, less downtime due to wrong lubricant, etc. Even I put the capacity of the gearbox, for example 28 gallon = 106 liter, to show how much lubes we need to order from warehouse.
Use either Word or Excel (preferred) to make tag/label is so much sweat less effort. Size wise of the laminated pouches, business card or index card should be an excellent choice. Leave the tag about ¼” to 1/8” smaller than the pouch on each side so that the tag will get no moisture and last for forever. Share with you.
By Robert Schindler on August 20th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Lambert- Excellent points! Your low cost solution is exactly the kind of approach that we all need in these tight budget years. The return on investment is enormous and almost immediate so it is one of those low tech-high return jobs that should get a high priority on the work list. You are probably already doing it but your idea for the tags would work just as well on all of your other equipment, too. One of the big pluses is that your people would write their work orders to the correct equipment for better accounting but it would also speed up their search for technical manuals, SOP’s, parts, and safety procedures. Thanks.
By Derek Eversdyke on September 22nd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Great article Bob! I can appreciate the advice as one who communicates that with clients on a daily basis. To further the point, not only is signing and labeling important, it’s also important to do it the right way. Understanding the applicable product safety labeling standards and knowing what options (maybe even better options than current OSHA regulations) are out their are important as well. A small investment today, especially during tough times, can return a lot in the future. We all should have the goal of having all of our employees and co-workers go home, safe and unharmed. Thanks again.