Safety Posters

Get the Information You Need About Safety Posters

Safety posters are one of the important ways that employers can help to maintain a safe and healthy workplace environment for their employees.  This is very important for not only preventing injuries, accidents and the spread of disease, but also will help keep employee absenteeism down and business productivity up.  Therefore it's very important for businesses to have an effective safety training program in place to inform and remind their workers of any potentially dangerous or hazardous conditions in the workplace as well as providing them with information on what to do in emergency situations.

A safety poster is a good way to convey simple, direct safety messages and reinforce ongoing safety training.  There are many different types of safety posters, including health and safety posters, workplace safety posters, industrial safety posters, fire safety posters, fire safety posters and road sign safety posters.  They can be posted in the work areas of businesses, on construction sites or public roads, as well as in schools and other areas open to the public.

In order to make safety posters most effective, there are a few simple guidelines to follow.  The first is to make sure the message conveyed on the safety poster is simple, direct and easy to understand.  Posters that contain a lot of small print and long explanations will generally not be as effective as one with a brief compelling message that combines easy to read text with compelling graphics.

Another thing that will make safety posters more effective is using them to reinforce what is taught in ongoing, regular safety training.  It's very important to hold safety training on a regular basis to keep employees constantly aware of important safety issues in the workplace.  Some companies also have safety committees that meet on a regular basis to provide input to the employer and help build awareness among workers on important safety issues.

There are a wide variety of safety issues that can be communicated through safety posters.  It is very critical that the workplace environment be kept safe from accidents, hazardous chemical spills, the spread of disease through hygiene, or slips and falls due to wet floors and other potentially dangerous conditions.

The types of safety messages that need to be displayed on the posters will depend on the individual workplace environment.  A general health and safety poster will be appropriate for almost any work environment whereas a road safety poster or industrial safety poster may only be needed for certain types of establishments.

Some of the more important topics that need to be covered with safety posters include how to properly lift boxes or other heavy objects, how to prevent falls and slips, how to dispose of hazardous chemicals and wastes, a reminder to check labels on all chemical containers, electrical safety, construction safety, reminders to wear head and eye protective gear, ladder safety, office safety and the dangers of horseplay.  Of course there are many other safety topics that can be conveyed through a safety poster.  It will depend on the particular workplace environment.

The posters should be displayed in prominent areas so that employees will see them on a frequent basis.  Some common areas include break rooms, restrooms, elevators, passageways and other prominent locations.  Any areas that contain hazardous chemicals, heavy machinery, or other potentially dangerous conditions should have safety posters in the area.

Also be sure to adhere to any federal or state government regulations such as OSHA requirements mandating that certain posters be displayed in particular areas of the workplace.

It's also a good idea to bring in new posters periodically so that people don't get too immune to the messages conveyed in the safety posters. There are free safety posters available from the New York State Insurance Fund, OSHA, and other websites that can be found on the web offering free downloads. There are also many companies that specialize in safety posters that can be purchased.

Another idea is for your company to make its own safety posters. They can be designed using a simple word processing program or graphics program. Another creative idea is to hold contests where employees can design safety posters to be used by the company. This will help to get more workers involved and can help to raise safety awareness.

If you're searching for industrial safety posters free downloads then that is another option available to you, but I don't think you'll find too many free ones.  It's worth the little bit of extra money you'd spend to buy safety posters, but that's just my opinion.