Contents

ISO 3864

Technical standard for safety symbols

ISO 3864:2011

Graphical symbols — Safety colours and safety signs
Example safety sign designed according to ISO 3864-1
Abbreviation	ISO 3864
Year started	March 1984 (1984-03)
First published	March 1984; 40 years ago (1984-03)
Latest version	2 2011
Organization	International Organization for Standardization
Committee	ISO/TC 145/SC 2 Safety identification, signs, shapes, symbols and colours
Domain	Safety signage design
Website	www.iso.org/standard/51021.html

ISO 3864 specifies international standards for safety signs and markings in workplaces and public facilities. These labels are graphical, to overcome language barriers.^[1] The standard is split into four parts.

Parts[edit]

ISO 3864 consists of four parts, that provide more specific and situation specific guidance depending on the application.

• ISO 3864-1:2011 Part 1: Design principles for safety signs and safety markings^[1]
• ISO 3864-2:2016 Part 2: Design principles for product safety labels^[2]
• ISO 3864-3:2012 Part 3: Design principles for graphical symbols for use in safety signs^[3]
• ISO 3864-4:2011 Part 4: Colorimetric and photometric properties of safety sign materials^[4]

Part 1 explains how to layout the components of safety signage, dictate the color scheme and sizing information. Part 2 covers the same concepts as part one, but specifically for labels applied on machinery, vehicles and consumer goods. Part 3 contains guidance for designing new safety symbols. Part 4 specifies the standards for phosphorescent material and colours of a sign, as well as testing to confirm these signs meets required standards.

Components of ISO 3864[edit]

Colours[edit]

These are the colours specified in ISO Standard 3864-4 in RAL colour standard.^[5][4]

In addition, ISO standard 3864-2:2016 lays out the following colours that correspond to levels of risk.^[2] This standard adds "Orange" as an incremental colour to the pallette above.

Arrows[edit]

ISO 3864-3 defines four types of arrow designs, and specifies what situations each type should be used in.^[3]

Arrow Type	Arrow image	Meaning	Arrowhead angle in degrees
A		General movement of objects	60°
B		Direction of rotation	60°
C		Movement of forces; pressures, fluids, gasses	84°
D		Movement of people	84° – 86°

Safety markings[edit]

Part 1 also provides design standards for 'safety markings', which are safety colors combined with a contrasting color in an alternating 45° stripe pattern, intended to increase the visibility of an object, location or safety message.^[1]

Marking	Colours	Meaning
	Yellow/Black	Indicate location of a hazard
	Red/White	Indicate location of firefighting equipment or a prohibition.
	Blue/White	Mandatory Action
	Green/White	Safe condition

Signage design[edit]

In addition to prescribing colours for safety signage, ISO 3864 also specifies how to layout the elements of the sign: A symbol and optional 'supplemental sign' which contains the supplementary text message.^[1]

• Examples of ISO 3864 sign layouts
• 
  A 'mandatory' sign, in a vertical format.
• 
  A 'mandatory' sign, in a horizontal format, with the text box to the right of the symbol.
• 
  A 'fire protection' sign, in a vertical format.
• 
  A 'fire protection' sign, in horizontal format, with the text box to the right of the symbol.

Multi-message signs[edit]

For situations where more than one message needs to be communicated^[a], ISO 3864 also provides guidance for "multiple signs", which consist of two or more symbol and text messages combined into a single sign. Additionally, fire protection and safe condition signs, which mark the location of equipment or exits can be combined with an arrow to indicate the direction to the item depicted on the sign.^[1]

• Examples of ISO 3864 'multiple signs' layouts
• 
  A multi-message sign for hazard and mandatory action, in a vertical format
• 
  A multi-message sign, with hazard, prohibition and mandatory action, in a horizontal format.
• 
  An exit symbol, combined with an arrow pointed up, to the left.
• 
  A Fire extinguisher sign, combined with an arrow to the right.

Related standards[edit]

The corresponding American standard is ANSI Z535. ANSI Z535.1 also explicitly uses multiple levels of hazard, including Yellow (Pantone 109) for 'caution' messages, and Orange (Pantone 151) for stronger 'warning' messages.^[7][8][9] Like ISO 3864, ANSI Z535 includes multiple sections: ANSI Z535.6-2006 defines an optional accompanying text in one or more languages.

ISO 3864 is extended by ISO 7010, which provides a set of symbols based on the principles and properties specified in ISO 3864.^[3]

See also[edit]

• ISO 7010 – Standard for safety symbols used in ISO 3864.
• ANSI Z535 – Corresponding American standard for safety signage, product warning labels and product instructions.

Notes[edit]

References[edit]