As you will have already noticed, we've been placing an increased focus on the subject of UK road safety over the past few days, in order to help spread the message about Road Safety Week. In Northampton, a primary school has also been getting involved in this week's activities, by breaking the world record for the number of high visibility vests worn in one place. More than 1,500 people, including the pupils at the school, crammed onto the school yard in order to smash the previous record of 1,475 people, setting the bar for the next group of people looking to take on the challenge.

While the main aim of the day was to aid the promotion of Road Safety Week, it was also an opportunity for staff, pupils and local residents to pay tribute to one of their former pupils. 13 year old Sophie Bywaters was tragically killed whilst crossing the road upon returning from a youth club back  in 2009, an accident made even more heartbreaking by it's preventable nature. Members of the local police as well as the fire and rescue service were also in attendance at the event, not only to aid in the record attempt, but also to give various presentations on road safety. A number of informative activities took place later that day, including a road safety signage competition for students, with the winning designs being chosen for use on international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty's sites. There were also live demonstrations with safety vehicles and fire safety appliances, in order to aid the illustration of vehicle blind spots and proper safety procedure.

It's extremely inspirational to see how this school has managed to encourage interest in the topic of health and safety, by presenting the information in a fun and engaging fashion. It is vitally important that we inform the most vulnerable members in our society about these issues, and ensure that they are fully aware of the safety procedures that should be followed at school, at home and on the roads. This comes from providing good quality and easy-to-read information, in the form of engaging activities such as this one, and of course in the form of good quality safety signs. 

To find out more about Road Safety Week, visit the Brake website.

  To browse our range of high quality health and safety signs, click here.

Today we are continuing with the road safety theme (it is Road Safety Week, after all!) and asking you how well you know your road signs.

Be honest now, after passing your driving test, how many of you can remember what all the road signs actually mean? Well, according to a survey commissioned by Zuto, a car finance expert, a staggering 90 per cent of drivers in the UK admitted that they find road signs confusing. Some of the results of this survey are truly shocking:  

• One third of the participants did not recognise the national speed limit
• Half of the participants believe that there are too many signs on the road
• One in 20 admitted that they have made mistakes driving due to confusing road signs
• Over 4 million drivers didn’t understand the “level crossing without a barrier” sign
• One in four drivers didn’t understand the “car and motorcycles prohibited” sign, with 13 per cent believing that it meant the exact opposite.

Here at Label Source, we take health and safety very seriously, and not knowing your road signs can lead to accidents and hazardous driving. As it is Road Safety Week, we thought it would be fun to test your knowledge of some UK road signs. See if you can correctly identify these road signs: 

1.     What does this sign mean?

a)  Slippery road

b)  Double bend first to the right

c)  No right turn

d) Junction on bend ahead

2.       What does this sign mean? 

a)      Traffic has priority over oncoming vehicles

b)      Oncoming vehicles has priority

c)       Way out

d)      Ahead Only

3.       What does this sign mean? 

a) 

a) Maximum height

b)  Maximum length

c)  Maximum width

d) Height width allowed sign 

4.       What does this sign mean?

a)      Keep left

b)      Keep right

c)       Turn right

d)      Right turn ahead

5.       What does this sign mean? 

a)      Train station ahead

b)      Steam Train museum ahead

c)       Level crossing

d)      Level crossing without barrier ahead

Answers

1.       B

2.       A

3.       C

4.       B

5.       D

Label Source would like to remind you that the use of the correct road signs is crucial for safety of the road user and pedestrians. To view our full range of road signs, please click here.

While people tend to place greater emphasis on health and safety risks in areas such as construction and factory work, it's important to remember that there are health and safety risks in any workplace, regardless of the location or nature of the work.

An office can seem like a rather inoffensive and risk-free work location for the most part, but as I have already noted, no work location can claim to be completely safe. This is why it's important to have the correct signs on display in your office, to direct your staff in the case of an emergency, and to comply with health and safety legislation.

Here are the 3 most important signs you should have on display at all times:

Health and Safety Law Notice: 

This sign outlines the law on health and safety for you and your staff, it's also a legal obligation to display this notice in the workplace.

Fire Action Safety Sign:

The Fire Action sign is part of our mandatory safe sign range, and is intended to inform both staff and visitors of the correct action to take in the event of discovering a fire.

Fire Exit Symbol:

Another vitally important part of fire safety is ensuring that all fire exits are marked correctly. This Fire Exit sign is part of our Safe Conditions safety sign range.

To view our full range of safety signs, click here. 

It is of vital importance that every electrical appliance and piece of equipment is properly tested, in order to ensure the safety of those who are using it. While some safety defects can easily be identified visually, there are others which only become apparent when the items are thoroughly examined and tested.

The Electricity at Work Regulations legislation, states that any item with the potential to cause injury should be maintained, and kept in a safe condition. While the law does not state how frequently these items should be checked in order to guarentee safety, it stands to reason that regular use should go hand in hand with regular checks. 

A record or label can be extremely useful for the monitoring and maintenance of electrical items, which is why we stock a wide range of PAT Test Stickers here as Label Source. These can be used by professional PAT testers to help them complete their tasks more efficiently, and are compliant with all relevant legislation, including that which we have previously mentioned. 

Our PAT test range includes equipment labels, plug stickers, cable wraps and record cards; all intended to give a clear and easy-to-read indication of when the item was tested, and what the outcome was. The labels cover a wide array of purposes, from periodic inspection, to earth continuity/leackege checks and insulation resistance testing. These items are essential to both the tester and the user, as they keep a clear visual record of items which are unsfe and should not be used. 

If you would like to view our full range of PAT test monitoring items, you can click on the link highlighted above to purchase high-quality safety labels that are fit for your intended purpose. For more advice and information about our labels, or if you can't find what you're looking for, call us on 0800 3761 693 (UK) or 0044 1443 842769 (International). Alternativley you can email your questions to sales@labelsource.co.uk, and we will aim to respond as quickly as possible.

We've heared of some pretty creative ways to teach fire safety, but this 'Fire Safety Theme Park' in Tianjin, China has to be the most bizarre and inventive of them all!

Named 119 after the Chinese emergency number, the park features a maze that is filled with orange smoke in order to emulate the conditions of a real fire. Visitors are instructed to attempt to vacate the maze in 30 seconds or under, while covering their mouths and noses as they would have to do to prevent carbon monoxide innhilation. Another feature encourages people to have a go at aiming a fire hose, demonstrating the physical strength required to become a firefighter.

Intended to be as informative as possible, the park also teaches its visitors about fire safety procedures, as well as the history of the fire service. This comes in the wake of the Tanjin warehouse chemical explosions, which brought the importance of fire safety into the public consciousness. 

Although it is great to see that something negative has translated into a positive, productive action, it shouldn't take incidents like those of the Tanjin explosion to prompt people to act and take fire safety seriously! Although the 2015 statistics have not been released yet, in 2013-14 there were 22,000 recorded fires in non-dwelling buildings throughout the UK, most of which were workplaces and retail units. There were also 322 fire-related deaths in Great Britain during that time, some of which could have been prevented by fire safety awareness.

Part of ensuring the safety of civilians and staff is displaying clear fire safety signs, which give warnings and instructions regarding the correct safety procedures to follow in the event of a fire. Our equipment can help you deliver the message of fire safety, and is far simpler than building your own theme park!