One of the most important safety tools or personal equipment used by employees in various industrial places is the hard hat. Safety helmet / hard hat is one of the most basic work safety tools that must be owned by each employee.
Safety helmet or hard hat is functioned as head protection from heavy objects that may fall or hit employees in certain area. Given the importance of hard hats or safety helmets itself, companies should or even be required to install safety signs in the form of hard had signage at various designated palaces.
This is solely aimed at increasing the safety awareness of the visitors or the employees themselves. In the following, we will discuss the meaning of the hard hat signage used according to Australian standards. Starting from the grouping of the hard hat signage itself, to the colors used in the hard hat signage.
Hard Hat Signage Are Include in Mandatory Sign
Mandatory signs are one of the most common types of safety signs found in various heavy work locations such as construction and so on. So, what is a mandatory sign and why is a hard hat signage included in the mandatory sign category? Here is an explanation.
According to the ISO standard, the mandatory sign as in ‘work safety orders’ which means that each mandatory sign is a safety sign which is intended as steps that must be taken for safety in the work environment.
The difference between the mandatory sign according to ISO and the one used in Australian standards is located only in the blue color itself. The Australian standard for the blue background color on the mandatory sign appears much darker when compared to the BSI ISO version’s mandatory sign background which is much lighter in color.
The hard hat sign according to the Australian standard is also included in the mandatory sign with a blue background color specification and a white pictograph symbol. Even in some parts, the Australian standard for mandatory signs is allowed to add signal words or text in black without or with any pictograph.
The Definition of Hard Hat Signage
Hard hat signage according to its meaning is a safety sign that is included in the mandatory sign which aims to give safety orders to visitors or workers at a certain location.
Heeding the stern warnings of hard hat signage can have dire consequences for anyone who does not comply. This is because research shows that a hard hat is one of the most important self-equipment that every worker must owned.
According to Australian standards, the geometric shape of the hard hat signage itself can be made in the shape of a circle with a dark blue background color and a white pictograph. The shape of the circle has the meaning of PPE or personal protective equipment for each employee.
So it can be concluded that every safety sign that has a pictograph in the form of a circle in blue, this shows the meaning that the safety sign is a work safety command related to personal protective equipment that must be owned or carried out by each worker.
As for the background outside the blue circle, there are those who allow it to be black. And some of the others have a white background color outside of the blue circle previously meant.
For the Australian standard itself, the background colors used outside of the blue circle are mostly white. Complete with a signal word or black text at the bottom of this type of safety sign.
The Functions of Hard Hat Sign
The hard hat sign can be used to provide guidance on work safety practices unrelated to physical injury and/or to convey messages related to personal safety.
This is slightly different from the type of safety instruction sign which aims to provide instructions or procedures related to work safety specifically. This type of safety instruction sign uses a green background color and is usually related to first aid kids or health first aid and so on.
The hard hat sign should indeed be observed by any visitors or workers who are at a location that has this type of safety sign for their own safety.
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