Signs for first aid, stretchers and emergency equipment

Emergency equipment signs identify where help and emergency supplies can be found aboard ship, including equipment stored behind a closed door.

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What governs this signage

IMO A.1116(30)ISO 24409-1ISO 24409-3

An emergency equipment location sign beside a first aid cabinet or eyewash station aboard a vessel.

First aid and medical equipment locations

A first aid sign identifies a cabinet or treatment point among the other doors and fittings in an accommodation area. Stretcher and medical equipment signs identify storage positions that may be unfamiliar to joining crew or visiting personnel.

Where equipment is out of sight from the corridor, a direction sign can point towards it. Identification at the cabinet then confirms the destination.

Emergency equipment in working spaces

In workshops and technical areas, emergency showers, eyewash stations and emergency communication points need an identity that relates to the equipment actually present.

A generic equipment notice provides less information than a message naming the function. Someone looking for an eyewash station needs to distinguish it from a first aid cupboard or a nearby safety locker without opening each one.

Visible before the cabinet is opened

Position matters where equipment sits in a recess, behind an open door or among similar lockers. The sign belongs where it can be read from the normal approach, with an unambiguous connection to the equipment.

The equipment names used on signs should also be familiar from onboard briefings. When a crew member hears where a stretcher or first aid kit is kept, the same name at the location completes the instruction.

Standards

What each standard covers here

IMO Resolution A.1116(30) sets out escape route signs and equipment location markings. It applies to ships built from 1 January 2019, and to ships under repair, alteration or outfitting from that date, under SOLAS chapters II-2 and III. ISO 24409-1 covers how shipboard signs are designed; ISO 24409-3 covers where they belong and how they are used together.

IMO A.1116(30)

Escape route signs and equipment location markings

ISO 24409-1

Design principles for shipboard safety signs, fire control plan signs, safety notices and safety markings

ISO 24409-3

Code of practice: where signs belong on board and how they are used together

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What to tell us about the equipment

Which equipment the sign identifies, and the name it is given in onboard briefings.
Whether the position needs identification at the equipment, a direction sign on the approach, or both.
The size that suits the position, and whether the sign is read along the corridor or head-on.
Rigid plastic or self-adhesive vinyl: the first takes screws, adhesive pads or a hanger, the second goes straight onto a clean, dry surface.
Whether the position needs a photoluminescent face, and the language the wording is required in.

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Questions

Emergency equipment signs, answered

What does the Emergency Equipment range cover?

Signs identifying first aid and medical equipment, stretchers, emergency eyewash and the other emergency provisions kept in accommodation and working spaces, together with the direction signs that lead to them. Signs for survival equipment such as lifejackets, lifebuoys and liferafts are Life-Saving System.

Which standards apply?

ISO 24409-1 covers how the sign is designed and ISO 24409-3 covers where it belongs. IMO Res. A.1116(30) covers escape route signs and equipment location markings, which is why it applies here as well as to escape marking.

Do we need a direction sign as well as one at the cabinet?

That depends on whether the equipment can be seen from the normal approach. Where it sits in a recess, behind an open door or among similar lockers, a direction sign answers where to go and the sign at the cabinet confirms arrival. The two answer different questions and are often both needed.

Does the wording have to match our briefings?

It is worth making it match. When a crew member is told during familiarisation where a stretcher or first aid kit is kept, the same name at the location completes the instruction; a different name at the door leaves the person checking.

Can DENFOIL be bought directly?

No. DENFOIL is supplied through distributors, who quote the specification and handle the order.