Evaluation of the Perception of Workplace Safety Signs and Effective Factors

Safety signs in the workplace are effective in the controlling of workplace hazards. Correct interpretation of signs is vital, preventing injury and saving lives. This study seeks to assess the perception of workplace safety signs and determine effective personal factors in comprehension. The current analytical-descriptive study was carried out in 2012 on 166 factory workers in 4 factories at the Khoramdasht and Bumehen industrial areas. Data was gathered using ISO 9186 and Demographic Information questionnaires. Stratified–random method was used for sampling and data were analyzed with Kendal statistical test using SPSS 16. General perception of safety signs was 69.22% with a standard deviation of 20.32%. Out of the 11 signs studied, the “eye protection must be worn” and “hand protection must be worn” signs had the highest effective perception and the “wear face shield” had the lowest. Results show a positive relationship between sign perception and factors such as age, experience and safety sign training (p?0.05). However a meaningful relationship between sign perception and gender was not observed. Acceptable perception of signs was 72.72% based on ISO 3864 and only 9% based on ANSI Z5353. Results show overall safety sign perception within the studied samples was low and few signs actually reach the perception limits. The contribution of personal factors on sign perception can be reduced by educating the work force on workplace safety signs.