Custom warehouse floor signs provide facility-specific messaging to help prevent lapses in protocols and meet OSHA safety standards. Because warehouse receiving, shipping, picking, packing, and administrative areas have different responsibilities, choosing visual cues for facility safety isn’t a one-size-fits-all process. Design your own floor signs and tape for areas that require more precise text, icons, and symbols. Whether attempting to make corrections after seeing repeated accident reports in specific areas, or are implementing continuous improvements overall, use these five ideas to get started.
1) Provide Safety Rules on Loading Docks
Shipping and receiving departments host a challenging combination of warehouse traffic. Accidents can happen if forklift operators, pedestrians, and couriers aren’t following safety rules. Visual cues can’t replace training, but, custom messages make requirements and restrictions on or near the loading dock known. Consider these ideas for visual cues on loading docks. Personalized floor signs display reminders to better communicate requirements to employees in the area.
Consider these ideas for updating your warehouse loading dock signage, or adjust these suggestions to suit your facility’s needs:
- Wheels Must Be Chocked
- Dock Safety Chains Must Be in Place
- Turn Off Engines
- Stay Clear of Dock Edge In Empty Bay
- Fall Protection Equipment Required
- Automated Unloading In Use
- QA Inspection Only
- High-Vis Gear Required
2) Specific Forklift Safety Reminders
Traffic control signs help prevent collisions and improve forklift safety, but don’t overlook the importance of using visual cues around stationary heavy machinery too. For example, OSHA requires battery charging stations to only be accessed by trained employees, and floor marking tape creates a clear visual boundary around charging equipment. Text can clearly identify which personnel are permitted in the area. We offer many signs to mark personal protective equipment use requirements, but you can also create your own to specify gear required near battery charging stations, or state the locations of required hazard mitigation tools and techniques, such as dry chemical fire extinguishers, water, and neutralizing agents, used in the area.
Custom floor signs can also provide reminders regarding applying machine brakes, safe lifting and transport, and steps to properly dilute solutions. Use visual cues in forklift parking areas to display checklists for proper startup and reminders to keep inspection records and service logs updated. Provide safety reminders with custom floor signs where operators mount and dismount and in the walkway leading to the equipment.
Your environment will determine which messages are most applicable, but these ideas may get you started:
- Warnings that only certified individuals may operator machinery
- Illustrations to demonstrate safe mount/dismount techniques
- Checklist for daily forklift inspections
- Notices to lower forks when moving and parked
- Forklift capacity listings and load limits
- Reminders that cell phone use is prohibited
3) Enforce Employee Health & Safety Practices
If a warehouse’s daily operations include distributing dangerous chemicals or shipping heavy loads, or if the environment presents ventilation or climate control challenges, employees may be at risk. Visual cues help improve awareness of heat exhaustion, correct improper lifting techniques, provide a listing of common symptoms of heat exhaustion and hypothermia, or reduce exposure to chemicals and fumes to prevent common workplace concerns.
Floor signs with these custom messages can support your facility’s hazard prevention efforts:
- Respirator Required, Fume Exposure Hazard
- Heavy Objects, Lift Properly / Team-Lift Required
- Replace Ripped Gloves Immediately
- Discard Damaged Gear Here
- Shut Off Fans/Heaters at Shift End
4) Create Custom Visual Cues for Wayfinding
Locating an assigned workstation or finding a product bin is easier in a warehouse with wayfinding signs. Aisle-marking floor signs organize the warehouse rack labeling system and make it easy to follow. Personalizing these markers by including symbols near the aisle number can indicate chemical risks, flammability, and heavy loads to prevent improper handling. Forklift or pedestrian floor signs placed at the end of each aisle, when paired with other mitigation techniques, can help keep unauthorized staff from entering. Wayfinding floor signs can also help steer visitors clear of restricted areas. Use custom-text floor tape to define walkways to specific warehouse departments or apply arrows or dot-shaped floor markers to mark safe, easy-to-follow paths.
5) Make Actions & Rules Clear With Visuals
Custom signs in industrial facilities are meant for more effective communication, and using images for specific situations is a great place to start. Short, concise phrases are best for floor signs and tape, but some situations need more explanation. Writing out instructions fully results in confusion, but too much shorthand may be difficult to decipher. Instead, create your own floor signs or tape that leverage images, arrows, and prohibited symbols in place of words to communicate hypothetical situations.
Our DIY custom sign design tool includes a library of widely recognized icons to choose from to help fill in the gaps, and you can upload any graphics you need. Here are examples of custom if-then signs that may be useful in your facility:
- If dock door is open, keep this area clear.
- If goods are temperature-controlled or time-sensitive, stage shipments here.
- If conveyor is full, don’t advance the line.
- If pallet is broken, it cannot be stacked here.
Our custom signs for warehouses and distribution centers can improve awareness of hazards and improve overall facility safety. Visit our Resource Center to learn more about different types of floor markings and how to choose the right visual cues for your facility.
