The law
The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 : require employers to provide specific safety signs whenever there is a risk that has not been avoided or controlled by other means, eg by engineering controls and safe systems of work.
Where a safety sign would not help to reduce that risk, or where the risk is not significant, there is no need to provide a sign;
Fire Safety Zones
In general these Regulations will not require any changes where existing fire safety signs containing symbols comply with BS 5499:Part 1:1990 Fire safety signs, notices and graphic symbols This is because the signs in BS 5499, although different in detail to those specified in the Regulations, follow the same basic pattern and are therefore considered to comply with the Regulations.
A Typical sign in Regulations: 
B Typical BS5499 sign: 
(Both A and B are acceptable)
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- Signboards specified in the Regulations are already covered by the existing British Standard BS 5378:Parts 1 and 3:1980 Safety signs and colours. Most of these are already widely used. Some of the most commonly used signboards are shown
Existing legislation already requires suitable illuminated signs and acoustic signals to be used where necessary. There will be few other cases where these are needed, fire warning systems being one example
Dangerous locations (eg where people may slip, fall from heights, or where there is low headroom) and traffic routes may need to be marked to meet requirements under the Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. The new Regulations specify the type of marking to be used, which again is consistent with BS 5378; | Signs are available in a choice of self-adhesive or rigid and most are ex-stock |
