Safety signage is handmade, the temperature of the fingertips, the guarded scale

In today's era of buzzing digital printing machines and precise markings by laser cutting machines, when it comes to "hand-made" safety signage, many people may think it is a bit "old-school" or even a bit "thankless". Computer design, one-click output, neat and uniform, how efficient it is, why waste time and effort to draw, engrave, and polish by hand?

But I want to say that there are some things hidden in that "effort". The safety sign is not just a sign posted on the wall or hung in the workshop. It is a silent warning, a guide at critical moments, and a visible line of defense to protect life and property. When it is given the warmth of handwork, the meaning of protection seems to have become different.

The "clumsiness" and "weight" of hand-made”

I know a master who worked as a safety officer in a factory all his life. After retiring, he picked up the hobby of his youth - carpentry. He updated signage in the factory. He insisted on making several fire prevention and height limit signs in key areas by hand. He used strong pine wood, which was planed and polished piece by piece. The edges did not look like machines. The cutting is so sharp and straight, but it has the unique rounded touch of hand polishing. He used self-adjusted UV-resistant paint to paint the background and trace the words layer by layer. The font is not the standard blackface in the computer font library, but he slightly adjusted it based on the slogan style of the older generation's propaganda boards. The strokes are thicker and stockier.

When I went to see him, he was wearing reading glasses and using a fine pen to draw the last point of the word "fire". He said: “Printed by a machine, it's too "smooth". If you stick it there, it can easily be regarded as a background board, and your eyes will "slip" past it after looking at it for a long time. The hand-made one is a bit "clumsy" and a bit different, but it will make people look at it for one second longer, and maybe they will remember it in just that second. ”

The height limit sign he made is hung at the entrance of the warehouse. It is made of thick iron plates and is hammered into shape. The numbers are welded on, and then polished and painted. The paint may gradually become mottled due to wind and rain, but the raised numbers have a clear concave and convex feel to the touch. When the car lights flicker at night, the shadows are long and grid-like. The appearance is eye-catching, and the real "weight" and "texture" are difficult to replace with thin acrylic boards. This is not a retro sentiment, but based on his understanding of this space and these risk points after decades of exposure - some warnings, which require a little "clumsy" strength to bear.

The process itself is a risk rehearsal

Hand-made safety signs have another benefit that is easily overlooked: The production process is a profound security risk visualization process.  This is not metaphysics.

When you need to personally select a corrosion-resistant, insulating substrate (such as bakelite) for a "Beware of Electric Shock" sign, and consider how to fix it in a humid environment, you can't help but think: What are the dangers of electricity? How do wet conditions exacerbate risks? If the fasteners rust and fall off, will the brand fall off and cause secondary problems?

When you are making a sign for an area where "hard hats must be worn", you may be confused about the size and color contrast of the icon. Should you use a strong red and white contrast, or a yellow and black warning? Should the helmet on the icon be drawn in more detail, or be extremely simplified? This tangled process is actually that you are repeatedly simulating a hurried worker, at what angle, at what distance, and in what short reaction time, which information can be most effectively received. This kind of "empathy design" based on specific scenarios is often not that strong when selecting materials from standardized libraries.

A friend who makes safety signs for his own small workshop told me: “When buying a ready-made sign, I just find something that is roughly right and stick it on, but I make it myself, starting from checking the specifications and selecting materials, to drawing and making. I go through the dangerous area in my mind every step of the way. After finishing the sign and hanging it up, I feel like I am almost becoming a safety expert in this area. When my co-workers see what I have made with such care, they will take it more seriously. ”

Personalized adaptation: Fill the gap between standards and on-site

National standards and industry regulations have given us the "standard answer" for safety signs, but the on-site situation is always complex and changeable. A standard "no stacking" sign has a very different effect when it is posted on a regular wall or behind equipment with staggered pipes and dim lighting.

Hand-made production provides valuable flexibility here. You can adjust the background color contrast of the sign according to the on-site background color. ； Key symbols or text can be enlarged non-standardly based on the viewing distance and angle. ； You can even create a "non-standard" but extremely effective composite logo for a specific, high-frequency risk.

In a corner of a certain workshop, there are both rotating equipment and a small number of lubricant barrels temporarily stored. Two standard signs may need to be posted.: “Beware of mechanical injury" and "No Fireworks", but the master craftsman may make a slightly larger sign by hand, draw an eye-catching gear hand-shaped danger icon on the upper half, draw an oil drum and crossed flames on the lower half, and write a line of bold words below: “When operating here, beware of entrapment and strictly prohibit fireworks." One sign has multiple functions and is extremely directional. This kind of "tailor-made" is difficult to achieve perfectly with mass-produced signs. It requires the producer to have in-depth observation and understanding of the site.

The “seeds” of emotional connection and safety culture”

It is also the softest point, which is the emotional connection. A safety sign made by the team leader and the team members using their spare time for the team’s dangerous points has a different weight in the hearts of the employees than a cold sign taken from the warehouse.

The former is integrated into their work, their discussions (even arguments), and their concern for their own safety. When this sign is hung up, it will become a "story carrier" and remind them: “This is the protection we do for ourselves. ” This sense of participation and ownership is a small but solid cornerstone for building a proactive safety culture. It allows safety to slowly infiltrate from a "mandatory rule" to a hint of "self-care". When employees see that the signage they participated in is properly maintained, employees will feel more accomplished and more willing to comply with and maintain it.

I am by no means advocating that all safety signs return to the manual era. Large-scale, standardized areas certainly need efficient, unified, and compliant industrialized products. Signs mandated by law must strictly comply with national standards.

What I want to say is that it is worthwhile to leave a little space for "hand-made" at certain key nodes, in certain places where cognitive enhancement is needed, and where there are "gaps" between certain standardized products and complex sites. It is slow, it is "imperfect", and it may have uneven strokes or tiny burrs in cutting, but it is these "imperfections" that carry more detailed considerations, more specific concerns and a more humane temperature.

Safety signs, after all, serve people. When people's thinking, experience and the body temperature of their hands are invested in its production process, the silent sign seems to be able to emit a more powerful light of protection. It is no longer just a "symbol" on the wall, but has become a "reminder" with a story, standing there quietly, telling: We really care about safety here.