www.cygniadirect.co.uk
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.