Safety Signs Perception and Adoption with the ISO and ANSI Standards

Abstract

Background: One way of controlling hazards in the work environment is a use of safety signs. Safety signs are among the safe information group; hence, if these signs are not understood properly it could cause an injury or even death. Objectives: The aim of this study is surveying perception of safety signs and adoption with ISO and ANSI standards. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2013 to 2014 in the 3 provinces of Khuzestan, Fars, and Tehran. The study population included 370 non-monochromatic employees working in the industries. For collecting information, the standard questionnaire of the international organization for standard (ISO 9186-1) and demographic information was used. A total of 13 safety signs were utilized for determination of perception. Stratified - Random sampling method was used, then, the obtained data were utilized using SPSS-16 software and applying descriptive statistics. Results: In this study, the overall rate of perception of safety signs was 78.4% with a standard deviation of 15.1%. The lowest percentage of perception was related to the sign “face shield must be worn” (53.5%). In the assessment of safety signs based on ANSI Z5353 and ISO 9186-1 standard, 62.5% and 69.2% of signs can be reached to limit of acceptable perception. Conclusions: The perception patterns of safety signs are different. Assessing perception of signs show a moderate level of perception in accordance with ISO standard; however, to reach ANSI standard, implementation of intervention programs (Judgment test) is suggested due to perceptual adaptation with target population and redesign of sign with low perception.