Wear eye protection sign (M004)

How to read it

ISO 3864-1 defines a blue circle with a white symbol as a mandatory action sign, one that indicates “a specific course of action is to be taken”, and ISO 7010 registers this one as M004, “Wear eye protection”. Great Britain’s Safety Signs and Signals Regulations 1996 word the same sign as “Eye protection must be worn”.

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Glasses or goggles on a lab door

University door signs often say which. The University of Houston’s lab door signs show the minimum protective equipment for entry, with separate pictograms for safety glasses and safety goggles. Its safety office describes glasses as designed against the impact of objects at high velocity, with limited protection, if any, against splashes, and goggles as designed against splashes and spills of chemicals.

The British version of the sign

The pictogram in the 1996 British regulations is a different drawing of the same requirement. HSE’s guidance on the regulations says the pictograms in BS EN ISO 7010 can be used to comply with them, and that text added to a mandatory sign says “must”, as in “Face protection must be worn”.

Look-alikes

ISO 7010 has three neighbouring eye and face signs: M007 “Opaque eye protection must be worn”, M013 “Wear a face shield” and M019 “Wear a welding mask”. The goggles are the detail that identifies M004. The same glasses drawn in a red ring with a diagonal bar would be a prohibition sign, the opposite message.