Safety Banners: Don't Neglect Safety Banners and Safety Signage in Oil and Gas Turnarounds

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Successful execution of a shutdown, turnaround or outage (STO) project requires a lot of careful budgeting and planning. But nothing in that planning is more important than worker safety.

Turnaround projects by their nature involve a variety of worker safety issues. If a project has an especially tight deadline, and most turnaround projects do, it may require more labor, extended shifts or both to be completed on time. If the project uses contract labor, which is also typical, those workers will most likely be unfamiliar with the layout of the worksite, its processes and equipment. In these cases, workers may need to rely on varying degrees of professional training and past experience to navigate the unfamiliar work location, whether it’s a refinery or chemical facility. During turnaround, in the petrochemical industry especially, workers often find themselves in challenging work environments such as extreme heights or confined spaces, and may be assigned activities they don’t normally do, such as inspections, maintenance or repairs.

Workforce multiplier

To add to all these factors, during normal operations, an oil refinery, for example, might employ 500 people. A turnaround project at that same refinery could require double or even triple that workforce. In this scenario, you could potentially have two or three times the normal worker traffic, most of them unfamiliar with the site, trying to find their worksites and supplies. And while from experience these workers may be familiar with some of the potential dangers for their particular tasks, it may take a few days on the job to find and remember where specific dangers are located.

Need for hazard identification

If not properly identified, workplace hazards that stem from human error or equipment malfunction can result in substantial costs in lost production time. If accidents occur because of improper labeling or noncompliance with warning signage regulations, this could result in even more significant fines. But the worst consequence of work hazards, if not properly identified, is serious injury or even death to a worker. As there are many safety aspects to consider in planning and conducting turnaround projects, safety signage is not always high on the priority list and tends to get overlooked.

We work with several large chemical manufacturing plants in the Gulf Coast region. Calling on these customers, we have learned over the years that they go through extensive safety planning before turnaround projects. Of particular concern to them is securing areas with highly flammable or dangerous materials and protecting workers in these areas with the proper PPE. These turnaround sites are typically large, from 200 to 300 acres. So it’s not uncommon for these dangerous work areas to move around over the course of a project. And even though these customers have extensive safety experience, safety signage is one area that could use improvement.

The unique nature of turnaround projects makes a strong case for making safety signage and hazard identification a critical component of your overall safety plan. 

Safety signage: Where to start

Safety signage comes in a range of categories, all used to communicate specific dangers or hazards. OSHA designates three categories of safety signage:

• Danger Signs — These indicate immediate danger and state that special precautions are needed. OSHA also specifies that the red, black, and white colors used for Danger Signs be in accordance with The American National Standards Institute Standard ANSI Z53.1-1967.

• Caution Signs — These signs warn against potential hazards or caution against unsafe practices. Caution signs are yellow and black and must be in accordance with ANSI Z53.1-1967.

• Safety Instruction Signs — These are used when there is a need for general instructions and suggestions relative to safety measures. Any letters used on white backgrounds must be black, and colors must be in accordance with ANSI Z53.1-1967.

In addition to OSHA categories, the American National Standard Institute (ANSI) designates eight classes of accident prevention signage: Danger; Warning; Caution; Notice; General Safety; Fire Safety; Directional Arrow Signs and Special Signs.

Overlooked visuals

Each turnaround project is unique, so the first step is to identify the hazards specific to the kind of work being performed as well as dangers associated with the location. While many of the larger safety concerns like inspections and personal protection are accounted for in safety planning, sometimes the visuals, such as pipe markers, tank placards, valve tags, equipment labels and even directional signage, can get overlooked. As you build your safety plan, allow for extra signage and ensure that all signs and labels are in place before the turnaround project begins. This can help make on-the-job training easier, reduce human error and prevent injuries.

Custom Facility Signs of All Types

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YES, we design can and produce custom facility signs of several types for our customers with no charge for your custom design. We have designed and produced hundreds of facility signs over the last 30 plus years. (NOTE: Free custom design requires an order minimum of $400. Otherwise, there wil be a $300 design charge plus the product cost and shipping)

• EMAIL us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with a description of what you would like on your safety banner.

Or,

• Call us at 901-759-0932, M-F Central time.

Are you a Power Point user? You can easily design your own facility sign if you want to. Just create it in Power Point and send it to us. We will take it from there.

We can produce your facility sign on a wide variety of substrates. What we see a lot of is customers requesting substrates that we used in the 1990s because no one has provided them with alternative 20^th century materials that might be less expensive or even better or easier to use. Tell us where and how you want to use your facility sign and we will recommend 20^th century materials and discuss their benefits and drawbacks.

Custom Facility Sign design is something we do for a living. You are not a designer and probably do not want to be. You are busy as it is and do not need designing a sign or banner on your plate, but also do not want to pay $250 an hour to get a custom sign designed. We can design it for you at no charge.

Thank you for the opportunity to work with you on your custom facility signs.

Stay Safe and Stay Healthy,

SafetyBanners.Org

America’s #1 Safety Banner Provider for 18 years

Memphis, Tennessee 901-759-0932 Central Time

Owned & Operated by New Tech Graphics, Memphis TN

Founded 1995

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