Wear protective clothing sign (M010)

How to read it

ISO 7010 registers M010 as “Wear protective clothing”, one of ISO 3864-1’s mandatory action signs that indicate “a specific course of action is to be taken”. Great Britain’s Safety Signs and Signals Regulations 1996 call the equivalent sign “Safety overalls must be worn”. The University of Houston’s lab door signs use a lab coat pictogram for the same requirement, and its safety office says a lab coat, smock, apron or other additional clothing to cover the arms and body is required in most laboratories, specific to that lab’s hazards.

Also searched as: apron symbol lab, lab coat sign, lab coat symbol, M010, protective clothing symbol, safety overalls must be worn.

Lab coat, overalls or apron

The three names cover one idea. ISO 7010’s M010 says protective clothing; the British regulations say safety overalls; lab door signs say lab coat. ISO 7010 has a separate sign for an apron, M026 “Use protective apron”, and Houston’s signs separate the two as well: lab coats give upper-body protection and are typically designed for particular hazards such as liquid corrosives or flash fires, while aprons guard against splashes of liquid.

Look-alikes

Other ISO 7010 clothing signs are M015 “Wear high-visibility clothing” and M026, the apron. On a lab door the coat often sits next to the eye protection and gloves signs, as the minimum for entry.