Free Resources · Checked July 2026
Free Health & Safety Signs
Print UK statutory safety signs for free — hazard, prohibition, mandatory, fire and more — plus a plain-English guide to when the law actually requires them. No registration, no cost.
The quick answer
Under the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, employers must provide safety signs wherever a risk hasn’t been avoided or controlled by other means. You can print compliant signs for free from the resource below — no need to buy them.
Why safety signs are required
Before grabbing free signs, it’s worth understanding when they’re legally needed. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 require employers to display a safety sign where a significant risk to health and safety remains after other controls have been applied — signs support your other precautions, they don’t replace them. Rather than duplicate the HSE’s guidance, here are the authoritative sources:
- Safety signs and signals: The Regulations (HSE guidance L64) — the HSE’s full guidance on the 1996 Regulations, free to download
- HSE publications library — search the HSE’s full catalogue of free and priced guidance
Free Health and Safety Signs to Print
The pick of the free options is Freesignage.co.uk — a large library of UK statutory safety signs as ready-to-print PDFs. No sign-up, no card details: find the sign you need, print it on your own printer, done. It can save a small business hundreds of pounds in signage costs. The categories they cover:
Hazard warning
Yellow triangles flagging a hazard — danger, radiation, hazardous materials.
Prohibition
Red circles for what you must not do — no smoking, do not touch, no entry.
Mandatory
Blue circles for what you must do — wash hands, keep locked, wear PPE.
DDA / accessibility
Accessibility signs such as level access and hearing loop facilities.
Fire equipment
Red signs locating extinguishers, alarms and fire-fighting equipment.
Fire evacuation
Green signs for fire exits, escape routes and assembly points.
Public information
General-information signs such as toilets and reception points.
Safe condition
Green signs for first aid, emergency exits and safety equipment.
Need something not in the standard set? Freesignage’s sister site, online-sign.com, has a free custom sign maker for producing your own compliant signage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are workplace safety signs a legal requirement?
Where a significant risk remains after you’ve applied other controls, yes. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 require employers to provide and maintain safety signs in those situations. Signs are there to reinforce your other precautions, not to stand in for them.
Can I legally print my own safety signs?
Yes. What matters is that the sign meets the required design — the correct shape, colour and pictogram for its category — not who printed it. Printing compliant signs yourself is perfectly acceptable, provided they’re clear, durable enough for their location and kept legible.
What do the different sign colours and shapes mean?
Shape and colour carry the meaning: yellow triangles warn of a hazard, red circles prohibit an action, blue circles make one mandatory, and green squares indicate safe conditions such as first aid and escape routes. Red squares mark fire equipment. This consistency means a sign is understood at a glance, regardless of language.