Industrial and commercial safety isn’t something to play around with, which is why ANSI Safety Symbols are there for everyone’s peace of mind! These graphical symbols can get across important safety messages in a flash – without language barriers getting in the way. Whether you’re reading from left-to-right or right-to-left, these symbols have your back in imparting vital info quickly and reliably. ANSI safety symbols and hazmat UN number placards are typically used in a variety of settings, including workplaces, public facilities, and on products. They are important tools for promoting safety and helping to prevent accidents and injuries.
ANSI Z535.3-2022 and the Criteria for Safety Symbols
2022 marked the first time in over a decade that many of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) Z535 standards were reviewed and updated. The standards have expanded over the years and now encompass six individual standards. These include:
- ANSI Z535.1 – standard for safety colors.
- ANSI Z535.2 – standard for environmental and facility safety signs.
- ANSI Z535.3 – criteria for safety symbols.
- ANSI Z535.4 – standard for product safety signs and labels.
- ANSI Z535.5 – standard for safety tags and barricade tapes for temporary hazards.
- ANSI Z535.6 – standard for product safety information in product manuals, instructions, and other collateral materials.
ANSI Z535.3-2022 provides the criteria for the design, evaluation, and use of safety symbols to warn others of potential hazards. The primary objective of the standard is to promote the implementation of effective safety symbols while setting forth procedures to do so. But what exactly makes a safety symbol effective?
ANSI Z535.3-2022: Effective vs. Ineffective Safety Symbols
The ANSI standard defines a safety symbol as a configuration that has an image with or without a surround shape that communicates a message without the use of text. Thus, image effectiveness depends on the selected symbol and how it is used. To ensure that symbols are universally understood, recognizable designs such as pictograms, glyphs, or pictorials must be used. And factors such as symmetry, direction, arrows, hand profiles, and even supplementary text must be considered.
Text-only signs are not effective in societies with highly diverse populations like the U.S. Workers not only speak different languages, but they have a range of reading comprehension skills. Symbols convey important safety messages faster and are easily understood regardless of the recipient’s language or education.
A Brief History of U.S. Safety Standards
The publication of the 1914 Universal Safety Standards was one of the earliest attempts to standardize safety signage in the United States. At the time, serious and fatal injuries were commonplace in U.S. steel factories. As journalists increasingly focused on unsafe working conditions in factories, politicians felt some pressure to improve safety standards and visual communication in the workplace. These early signs were elementary, consisting of the word “Danger” written in white letters on a round red background – resembling a rounded modern stop sign.
In addition to red danger signs, green boards with white letters were used to indicate the location of exits and first aid kits. About 25 years later, the ASA Z35.1 standards were published at the request of the War Department. They were subsequently revised in 1967 and 1968. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) relied on the ASA Z35.1 standards when drafting OSHA Section 1910.145, which governs the usage of safety signage.
In 1979, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI Z53) Committee on Safety Colors was combined with the ANSI Z35 Committee on Safety Signs to form the ANSI Z535 Committee on Safety Signs and Colors. ANSI Z53 and Z35 were subsequently merged into the ANSI Z535 standard in 1991.
The standards received some revisions in 2017 to make them more user-friendly, add additional definitions, make it consistent with Title 49 Section 172.407 of the Federal Code of Regulations, and incorporate several new annexes. These included, for example, Annex A, which clarified the color boundaries for safety yellow, and Annex B, which illustrated ANSI safety colors in relation to ISO safety colors.
The standards received another round of revisions in 2022. Some of the most significant revisions included clarifications on how the Z535 standards can be combined with other applicable regulations, symbol design updates, and clarifications of confusing text and new foreign language translations.
ANSI Z535.3-2022
ANSI Z535.3 lists the criteria for the design, evaluation, and use of safety symbols to warn others of potential hazards. The standard defines a safety symbol as an image, with or without a shape surrounding it, that communicates a message without the use of words. The reasoning is that symbols provide faster communication of safety messages than words and help convey messages across language barriers. Thus, the use of symbols provides a higher level of safety.
While the inclusion of safety symbols is considered a best practice, their use is optional under the ANSI standards. ANSI Z535.3 safety symbols are classified into four types:
- Hazard alerting.
- Mandatory action.
- Prohibition.
- Information.
| Hazard Alerting Hazard-alerting symbols convey information that is related to the nature of a particular hazard. These symbols are drawn within a yellow triangle with a black ban. |
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| Mandatory Action A mandatory action conveys that actions should be taken to avoid a potential hazard. The symbol consists of a white image within a blue circular surround shape if one is desired. |
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| Prohibition These symbols depict actions that should not be taken. Prohibition symbols feature a circular band with a diagonal slash running from the upper left to the lower right of the circle. The symbol includes a black image, a red band with a slash, and a white background. |
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| Information Information symbols convey a safe condition or fire safety message. A safe condition symbol features a white image within a safety green square or rectangular background if desired. A fire safety symbol consists of a white image within a red square or rectangular background, if desired. |
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