DANGER sign

How to read it

In the ANSI Z535 standards used for American safety signs, DANGER sits above WARNING and CAUTION, and the difference is one word: a DANGER hazard will result in death or serious injury, where a WARNING hazard could. OSHA’s rule for workplace signs, 29 CFR 1910.145, says danger signs indicate immediate danger and that special precautions are necessary, and it keeps danger tags for situations where an immediate hazard threatens death or serious injury. Below the red header, a white panel carries the wording that names the hazard.

Also searched as: ansi danger, danger signal word, osha danger sign.

Old-style and ANSI-style DANGER signs

Two designs are in use in US workplaces. The older follows ANSI Z35.1-1968, which OSHA’s construction rule describes as red for the upper panel, a black outline on the borders and a white lower panel for the wording. The newer follows ANSI Z535.2. A 2013 OSHA rule allowed employers to use either, after ANSI argued that the old formats “lack the ability to contain [the] symbols, more extensive word messages, multiple messages, and additional languages”. In a 2015 letter OSHA confirmed that one workplace can have old signs in some areas and new ones in others.

Wording set by a specific rule

Some DANGER signs have their wording fixed by the OSHA standard for the hazard. Spaces with electrical equipment over 600 volts have signs reading substantially “DANGER - HIGH VOLTAGE - KEEP OUT” (the high voltage symbol has its own page). Asbestos regulated areas carry a legend that begins DANGER, ASBESTOS, MAY CAUSE CANCER, and OSHA said in 2015 that these signs follow the asbestos standard, not the ANSI designs.

Look-alikes

The international system in ISO 7010 has no signal words: its introduction asks for safety information that “relies as little as possible on the use of words”. A hazard there is shown by a yellow warning triangle with a pictogram. Red in the ISO system marks a prohibition, as a red ring and bar, or fire equipment, as a red square.