Bilingual safety signs: English plus a second language

A safety sign only works if the person standing in front of it can read it. In many American workplaces, a large share of the crew reads Spanish, Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean or another language more comfortably than English. A sign that carries both languages reaches all of them at once, and it costs nothing extra to print.

What OSHA expects

OSHA's rules repeatedly come back to the same idea: the message has to be understood. For accident prevention tags, 29 CFR 1910.145(f) requires the signal word and major message to be understandable to all employees who may be exposed to the hazard. OSHA has also said that the training its standards require must be presented in a language and vocabulary that workers can understand.

For chemical labels, the Hazard Communication Standard is explicit. Workplace labels must be in English, and under 1910.1200(f)(10) employers with employees who speak other languages may add the information in those languages as long as the English is there too. That is a sensible rule for any sign: keep the English, and add the language your workers read. Our post on HazCom container labels covers labels in detail.

How the builder does it

Every header sign, tag and radiation sign has a second message field. Type the English in the first field and the translation in the second; the second message is drawn under the first. The header changes too. When a second message is present, the sign adds the Spanish signal word automatically, so CAUTION becomes CAUTION / PRECAUCIÓN, DANGER becomes DANGER / PELIGRO and WARNING becomes WARNING / ADVERTENCIA.

For any other language, set the header words yourself. The Header and Second header fields override the signal words, so a sign can read CAUTION / 注意 or DANGER / 위험. The lettering covers the full Latin alphabet, with its accents, plus Japanese, Korean and Chinese characters.

HazCom labels take a second signal word after a slash, and pipe markers take a smaller second legend under the first, such as POTABLE WATER over AGUA POTABLE. The exit sign builder can spell out SALIDA or SORTIE.

Six site languages

The site itself is available in English, Spanish, French, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese. Switch languages in the header and every ready-made sign, preset and directory entry changes to match. On the Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese sites, signs are English on top with the translation below, the usual practice in the United States. On the French site, French comes first with English below, as it would in Quebec, where French must be predominant.

Tips for translations

• Keep messages short. A two-language sign has half the room for each, so trim to the essential instruction.
• Have a fluent speaker check the translation, ideally someone from the crew who will read it. Workplace vocabulary varies by region.
• Use the same translation everywhere. If one sign says PISO MOJADO, the next should not say SUELO MOJADO.
• Signs supplement training. Explain each sign's meaning when you train, in the language workers understand.

Try it now: open the CAUTION builder, type your message and add the translation in the second message field.