Hazard symbols are universally recognized symbols designed to alert individuals to the presence of hazardous or dangerous materials, locations, or conditions. These include risks associated with electromagnetic fields, electric currents, toxic chemicals, explosive substances, and radioactive materials. Their design and use are often governed by laws and standards organizations to ensure clarity and consistency. Hazard symbols may vary in color, background, borders, or accompanying text to indicate specific dangers and levels of risk, such as toxicity classes. These symbols provide a quick, universally understandable visual warning that transcends language barriers, making them more effective than text-based warnings in many situations.
List of standardized hazard symbol systems
Examples of common symbols
Tape with yellow and black diagonal stripes is commonly used as a generic hazard warning. This can be in the form of barricade tape, or as a self-adhesive tape for marking floor areas and the like. In some regions (for instance the UK) yellow tape is buried a certain distance above buried electrical cables to warn future groundworkers of the hazard.
Generic warning symbol
On roadside warning signs, an exclamation mark is often used to draw attention to a generic warning of danger, hazards, and the unexpected. In Europe and elsewhere in the world (except North America and Australia), this type of sign is used if there are no more-specific signs to denote a particular hazard. When used for traffic signs, it is accompanied by a supplementary sign describing the hazard, usually mounted under the exclamation mark. This symbol has also been more widely adopted for generic use in many other contexts not associated with road traffic. It often appears on hazardous equipment, in instruction manuals to draw attention to a precaution, on tram/train blind spot warning stickers and on natural disaster (earthquake, tsunami, hurricane, volcanic eruption) preparedness posters/brochures—as an alternative when a more-specific warning symbol is not available.
Poison symbol
The "skull-and-crossbones" symbol, consisting of a human skull and two bones crossed together behind the skull, is today generally used as a warning of danger of death, particularly in regard to poisonous substances. The symbol, or some variation thereof, specifically with the bones (or swords) below the skull, was also featured on the Jolly Roger, the traditional flag of European and American seagoing pirates. It is also part of the Canadian WHMIS home symbols placed on containers to warn that the contents are poisonous. In the United States, due to concerns that the skull-and-crossbones symbol's association with pirates might encourage children to play with toxic materials, the Mr. Yuk symbol is also used to denote poison. This symbol has also been more widely adopted for generic use in many other contexts not associated with poisonous materials. It used for denoting number of dead victims caused by natural disasters (e.g. earthquakes) or armed conflicts on event infographics.
Ionizing radiation symbol
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