A construction-site sign order is easier to discuss when each message, location and quantity is confirmed. A request for a “site safety board” alone leaves too much undecided.
This guide explains how to organise confirmed requirements into a practical sign schedule and production enquiry. It does not decide which signs your site needs or replace the contractor’s, employer’s or competent adviser’s safety assessment.
Confirm the requirement before choosing the layout
The Health and Safety Authority’s safety-sign guidance identifies Chapter 1 of Part 7 and Schedule 9 of the General Application Regulations as relevant workplace requirements. Signs support risk controls; they are not a substitute for removing or adequately reducing hazards where that can be done.
Regulation 160 also connects sign decisions with the employer’s risk assessment and safety statement.
For the production enquiry, obtain the sign requirements from the responsible contractor, employer or competent safety adviser. Do not assume that copying a neighbouring site’s board will produce the right instructions for yours.
For the main signboard categories, use our workplace safety signs in Ireland guide. This article concentrates on turning a confirmed list into a clear brief.
Give each sign a separate line
A simple schedule helps everyone refer to the same item. It can be a spreadsheet, document or clearly written list; the format matters less than the information.
As a practical production brief, give each item a reference and record:
- the confirmed signboard or pictogram;
- any exact supplementary wording;
- the intended location;
- quantity and dimensions;
- material and fixing requirements, where specified;
- whether it is an individual sign or part of a shared carrier;
- the required date.
Mark undecided details for confirmation instead of guessing. That keeps production questions separate from safety decisions that belong to the responsible person.
Keep references consistent across the schedule, photographs and artwork approval. A clear reference prevents two similar signs being confused.
Separate safety messages from general notices
A site may need safety signboards alongside other information: a site name, reception direction or visitor-reporting notice. These do not all perform the same job.
Identify which elements are prescribed safety communication and which are general site information before asking for a branded layout. Decorative choices must not obscure the required message.
The HSA safety-sign guide revised in 2016 explains that necessary explanatory text can appear on a supplementary signboard.
The HSA guide says each safety signboard and any associated supplementary signboard should convey one safety message. If two confirmed messages are required, use two separate signboards; those separate signboards, with supplementary signboards where necessary, may be arranged on one carrier. Do not merge pictograms into a new symbol or use supplementary wording to introduce a second safety message.
For a shared entrance board, therefore, supply the confirmed messages separately. Ask the responsible person to confirm the proposed arrangement rather than treating the board as a general advertising design.
A company logo or site heading can identify the board, but neither should compete with the safety information.
Record the location, not just the sign size
Size alone does not explain how an item will be used. Include a clear location description and, where useful, a photograph or marked-up plan.
Tell the supplier about the intended viewing distance, indoor or outdoor setting, available mounting surface and how the sign is expected to be displayed. If fixing requirements have been specified, include them.
These details help a supplier discuss the practical specification. They do not transfer responsibility for deciding the correct location or safety message to the supplier.
Where a sign must meet a particular material, visibility or other technical requirement, provide the specification and request evidence of suitability. Do not infer a product’s performance from its appearance or from a generic material name.
Use photographs as references, not approval
A clear photograph is useful when replacing an item or explaining an existing layout. It does not prove that the sign remains correct for the site.
Confirm the requirement before requesting an exact copy. Check whether wording, arrows, facilities or other site details have changed.
For the production brief, send a close view of the sign and enough surrounding context to explain the intended position. State which parts should be retained and which details are awaiting confirmation.
If the image is difficult to read, provide the wording separately. Do not leave spelling or a critical instruction to be reconstructed from a blurred photograph.
Check the artwork against the schedule
Before approving production, compare the proposed artwork with the confirmed list. Review each reference, pictogram, supplementary instruction, quantity and dimension.
Give special attention to direction arrows and location information. A neat layout is not useful if it points to the wrong place.
For a shared board, check that each message remains distinct and that site identification has not crowded the safety information. Return any uncertainty about the requirement to the responsible contractor, employer or competent adviser.
Keep the approved version and the sign references available for later replacement enquiries. This is a practical ordering suggestion, not a claim that keeping an artwork file establishes legal compliance.
Production is not a site-safety assessment
Time for Designs can discuss producing suitable individual signs and shared boards from confirmed requirements. We do not carry out workplace or construction-site safety assessments.
Materials, dimensions, fixings and suitability must be confirmed for the specific job. A quotation or artwork approval does not establish that the entire site’s safety arrangements comply with every applicable requirement.
Work involving public roads or traffic management needs its own appropriate requirements and responsible-person approval. Do not treat an ordinary site information sign as an approved public-road traffic sign.
Useful questions before sending the list
Can more than one safety message be shown on one carrier?
Yes, if each message is shown on its own confirmed safety signboard, with its own supplementary signboard where necessary. The separate signboards may share one carrier. Do not combine pictograms into one invented symbol or use one signboard-plus-supplementary text to convey multiple messages.
Can you tell us which signs our site requires?
No. The requirements should be identified by the responsible contractor, employer or competent safety adviser. We can discuss practical production from that confirmed list.
What if we do not know the material or fixing?
Describe the location and display requirements, and supply any specification already agreed. Available production options and their suitability need confirmation before quoting.
Send a quote-ready production enquiry
See our construction and site safety-sign service, call 062 61524, WhatsApp Time for Designs, or visit 98 Friar Street, Cashel.
Send the confirmed sign list, quantities, dimensions or size requirements, intended locations, display or fixing details, required date and collection or delivery location. Include artwork, a schedule or clear reference photographs if available.
The guidance linked here should be read with its dates and amendment information. The consolidated legislative HTML examined for this draft was labelled updated to 24 May 2023; this article does not claim a complete legal update through October 2026. Obtain advice about requirements specific to your site.