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DIRECT BUSINESS SIGNAGE: STAY SAFE AND COMPLIANT Like any other store owner, when you take the time and effort to get signage in place you want it to look great and bring customers to your door. But you also have a legal responsibility to make sure your business signage is safe and secure too. Storms, freezing weather and burning sun all take their toll on your signs. Their fixings are tested, the seals are forced to fend off penetrating ice and rain, and electrical fixings must keep on working safely. Plus the recent pandemic has forced many stores to postpone or even cancel inspections and maintenance visits. It means far too many signs have deteriorated to the point where they are a danger to staff, customers and the wider public too. People have been seriously hurt from signs falling down, some fatally, due to poorly maintained shop front signage becoming detached and colliding with people in the immediate vicinity. That’s why the law focuses on making sure your signs must be maintained.
YOUR SIGN. YOUR RESPONSIBILITY Under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, you are required by law to ensure your signage along with your building does not pose a risk to the health and safety of those you employ and those who are not in your employment – your customers, suppliers and the public. In addition, The Management of Health and Safety at work Regulations 1999: Regulation 3 requires you to make a suitable and sufficient assessment of: the risks to the health and safety of your employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work, and any other persons visiting your premises or being immediately nearby. You also have legal obligations under the Town & Country Planning Act (1990) to ensure any signs you own do not endanger any person and to maintain it in a safe condition. And building regulations also state fittings and equipment – meaning your signs – must be inspected and maintained. So you, as an employer, or person in control of a workplace, have a legal responsibility to maintain your signage and buildings to ensure it is in a condition that is safe and without risks to health. This means you must assess the risks your signs may present and have them inspected and maintained – it is a legal requirement.
WHAT DOES ASSESSMENT, INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE MEAN?
Assessment
Assessing the risk presented by your signage will cover the boundary of your premises where the safety of staff or the public may be impacted. If you lease a property, you are still responsible for the safety of staff and the public. Check your contract with your landlord to determine what they will maintain and what is for you to look after.
Inspection Having your signs regularly inspected helps determines the service life of your signs. These inspections include both an annual inspection to check the fixings and a 3-yearly analysis of the area to which the signs is mounted. The actual frequency of the inspections can be determined from recommendations made by the sign maker. If you don’t know who that is – perhaps due to taking over a store with a sign already in place – then you should assume the sign needs to be inspected as least as frequently as a new sign.
Maintenance In most cases you will need to have a Planned Preventative Maintenance scheme to ensure your signage is being looked after to a level deemed legally satisfactory. This will be determined by the age of the signs, advice from the manufacturer and the installer, any modifications made to the signs, and of course the conclusions from your risk assessment and recent inspections. Importantly, the law states only competent installation/service engineers shall attempt any inspection, testing, maintenance or repair work to the electrical components supplied with the sign and in accordance with current regulations, legislation and, where applicable, disposal of waste regulations. This brings us to the next stage; finding a ‘competent’ signage services provider.
PUT YOUR SIGNS IN THE RIGHT HANDS When you are looking for someone to care for your signage, the law states you must ensure you choose a contractor who is competent. This means they must have the necessary skills, experience and knowledge to manage health and safety. They need to recognise hazards in your business and help you put sensible controls in place to protect workers and others from harm. For your signage, this can encompass a number of areas. The training and experience to identify sub-standard fixings is a good example of competence. So is being certified to use access equipment in order to work on your signs safely – and knowing what controls need to be put in place to minimize the risk of injury to your staff, customers and the wider public. With Cygnia, your signs are looked after by staff who easily pass any competence test. Your signs are cared for by engineers who are continually trained and tested in identifying risks and using the right tools and machinery to look after your signs conveniently and efficiently. Meaning your visual branding will not just look great but also be safe and secure for everyone – no matter what the weather and local environment can throw at it.
t 01843 862 944 e sales@cygniamaintenance.com www.cygniadirect.co.uk