New ISO Symbols Coming in 2024

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) held ISO/TC 145 committee meetings in Berlin, Germany at the beginning of November. ISO/TC 145 is the ISO standards committee responsible for safety signs, labels, colors and symbols. With our active involvement and leadership of the leading safety sign standards bodies, Clarion Safety had the privilege of participating in these meetings, including those of ISO/TC 145 subcommittee 2 – which focuses on safety identification, signs, shapes, symbols and colors – working group 1 (WG 1). These were the first sessions back in person since the pandemic forced a shift to virtual sessions in 2020.

The efforts made at these sessions will impact symbols and visual safety communication around the world. It’s work that we’re proud to be a part of – and proud to be able to share with you, our customers and partners in safety.

ISO Safety Symbol Changes
WG 1's central task is the registration of standardized safety symbols that are meant to visually convey to viewers the nature of hazards and how to avoid them. These are determined by identifying the human behavior that is intended to be caused after understanding the symbol’s meaning. In addition to moving several new symbol proposals through the working group’s process, this latest meeting centered on a few key areas:

• ISO 7019:2019 Amendment 7 was published: This amendment was officially published to add new safety signs to the ISO 7010 library. This means these signs and their symbols are now best practice and ready for official use by manufacturers and across facilities. Included are P075: Do Not Stare at Light Source, W079: Warning, Hot Content, and W080: Warning, Hot Steam.
• ISO/TS 20559 Graphical Symbols – Safety colours and safety signs – Code of practice for use of safety signs was brought up for decision: The committee has committed to enter the final decision stage of determining if this technical specification for designing and installing safety signs will move forward to an International Standard, or be removed, which is expected to be decided by December 2023.
• Approving 10 new safety symbols: these new symbols will be adopted into ISO 7010 Graphical symbols – Safety colours and safety signs – Registered safety signs shortly, through an amendment to the standard likely to be published sometime in early 2024. Most notable here for our manufacturing audiences is update to the Restricted Access symbol, which is moving forward to be standardized and to join ISO 7010 after several rounds of new designs and comprehension testing. Other hazards identified by these symbols include: anchor points, locking mechanical moving parts, fuel pouring prohibitions and various environmental hazards related to winter snow sports.

Examining the Restricted Access Symbol Changes
The Restricted Access symbol is one of the many safety symbols that’s currently only included as a European Directive in 92/58/CEE, although a new iteration is set to be finalized and added into the ISO 7010 library next year. This is being done to set its place as an international, standardized symbol. This means the majority of changes will be seen by safety professionals looking to use this symbol to warn about related hazards in countries outside of the EU, as you may have been delaying implementation until it reached ISO status.

The Restricted Access symbol and its many iterations is one of the most widely recognized safety symbols in the world, and it’s used in a variety of settings, including workplaces, public buildings, and industrial facilities. Its simplicity and clarity make it an effective tool for communicating safety messages to people of all languages and cultures. When it comes to OSHA compliance on visual warnings, it’s always a good idea to reference standards bodies like ANSI and ISO, as ISO standardized symbols serve as extra barriers of compliance for products and facilities outside of the United States, and prove the additional commitment to safety that you have to outside parties.

It's important to remember that these symbols are updated on a careful and meticulous basis, with a only a small library added each year to give those using the symbols the ability to adapt and only undertake changes that have been determined as necessary to safety and well-being. As we await official publication and finalized revisions of some of these symbols and potential standards, a date to keep in mind is that we’ll be attending the next official ISO TC/145 meeting in June 2024 to discuss the next stages. Also of special note for your standards calendars is that ISO 3864-2 is expected to come under review again in 2027 as a part of its regular review cycle.

Your Industry Standards and Safety Insider
As we wait on these next steps for standardization, it’s a good idea to start assessing your current visual warning symbols in use and identify which ones may need a potential update in line with the latest standards updates, like the upcoming standardization of the Restricted Access symbol. Our team at Clarion Safety is hard at work updating our product library with signs and labels to reflect these changes. If you have questions about your current labels or signs compliance standings, or if you would like to use a standardized symbol you don’t see in our library online, reach out to a member of our team today for assistance!