National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of ISO 3864‑3:2024. It supersedes BS ISO 3864‑3:2012, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee PH/8/1, Graphical Symbols - Safety Signs.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 May 2024.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO document should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

ISO draws attention to the possibility that the implementation of this document may involve the use of (a) patent(s). ISO takes no position concerning the evidence, validity or applicability of any claimed patent rights in respect thereof. As of the date of publication of this document, ISO had not received notice of (a) patent(s) which may be required to implement this document. However, implementers are cautioned that this may not represent the latest information, which may be obtained from the patent database available at www.iso.org/patents. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 145, Graphical symbols, Subcommittee SC 2, Safety identification, signs, shapes, symbols and colours.

This third edition cancels and replaces the second edition (ISO 3864‑3:2012), which has been technically revised.

The main changes are as follows:

references have been added in the Introduction to the list of translations of referents and to the ISO Online Browsing Platform;
normative references have been updated;
exclusion zone for warning signs in 7.4.4 has been clarified.

A list of all parts in the ISO 3864 series can be found on the ISO website.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

Graphical symbols in safety signs are used for a wide range of purposes. There is a need to standardize the principles for creating these graphical symbols to ensure visual clarity, to maintain consistency and thereby to improve recognition and comprehension. The principles set out in this document specify the design criteria by which graphical symbols are judged for standardization and publication in ISO 7010.

Graphical symbols used in safety signs are not always intuitively understood. Often training can be necessary to inform people about the meaning of a graphical symbol. Such training can take place by including the meaning of a graphical symbol in operation manuals, company bulletins and training programme materials, as well as by using supplementary text with the safety sign.

NOTE 1 Information on procedures, criteria of acceptability, safety sign templates and application of safety signs, as well as translations of the referents, can be found at https://www.iso.org/tc145/sc2.

NOTE 2 All safety signs are available on the ISO Online Browsing Platform at https://www.iso.org/obp.

1 Scope

This document provides principles, criteria and guidance for the design of graphical symbols for use in safety signs as defined in ISO 3864‑1, and for the safety sign element of product safety labels as defined in ISO 3864‑2.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Designing graphical symbols for use in safety signs

5 Review of existing International Standards

6 Assignment of meaning, function, image content and hazard to the safety sign

7 Design criteria

7.1 Geometric shapes and colours of safety signs

7.2 Size and position of the graphical symbol

7.3 Layout of templates

7.4 Exclusion zone

7.5 Line width

7.6 Consistency within a family of graphical symbols

7.7 Determinants

7.8 Combination of graphical symbols or graphical symbol elements

7.9 Use of arrows in graphical symbols

7.10 Characters

Bibliography

BS ISO 3864-3:2024

Graphical symbols. Safety colours and safety signs - Design principles for graphical symbols for use in safety signs

Current

Published:

31 May 2024