Whenever you visit a factory or a warehouse, you are likely to see a whole range of markings on the floor. There are so many different types of markings that they can seem to form a whole pictographic alphabet of their own. Understanding what they mean can seem unnecessarily complicated and difficult. However, they are nowhere near as complicated as they might seem. The Maintenance Contracts guide to Health and Safety Line Markings makes understanding them straightforward.
What are Health and Safety Line Markings?
Health and Safety Line Markings are painted lines on the floor – usually in a factory or warehouse. In many industries, health and safety regulations insist that any potentially hazardous areas are clearly marked. This is to ensure that everyone is safe, and aware of the hazards. However, there are other reasons to need line markings. Some areas need to be demarcated for reasons of organisation, or separation.
Which Type of Markings do I Need?
The first thing to consider are the potential legal necessities. HSE requirements state that if you have areas of a factory or warehouse that are potentially dangerous, you need to clearly mark these. The most effective way of doing this is through clear line markings on the floor. There are also a wide range of floor markings that are not necessary for legal compliance, but help organise a large area of flooring.
Traffic Markings
Busy warehouses can lead to traffic congestion – even inside! To avoid this, consider using separate line markings to mark out areas of low, medium and high traffic. This means that you can make clear where different types of traffic should go. It can also be useful to use different coloured markings to help demarcate different types of traffic.
Hazard Warning Markings
Hazard markings should be used to mark out areas of particular potential danger. In most factories and warehouses, these are likely to be:
- The edges of raised platforms / areas
- Around fast moving equipment
- Around potentially dangerous machinery
- Surrounding electrical stations / cabling
Organisational Markings
Factories and warehouses can contain a wide variety of different substances, materials and products. You often need to keep these separate from each other. For example, you might need to separate raw materials from works in progress from finished products. Organisational markings can help you to distinguish anything from anything else – it’s all dependent on your business.
Maintenance Contracts are experts in every facet of commercial flooring. Whether you need a new flooring system for your warehouse, and aren’t sure what sort – or you need to fix an issue with your existing floor, we can help. We have years of experience getting all sorts of businesses the floors they need – from factories, to warehouse, to hotel kitchens. If you need floor marking on top of a new floor, we are also proud to offer a comprehensive range of floor marking options. Whatever you need your commercial flooring to do, Maintenance Contracts can help.