Construction site signage
What a building site needs at the gate, on the fence and inside: safety boards, PPE and warning signs, Heras mesh banners, hoardings and site traffic signs.
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Construction site signage has three jobs: keep the public out, tell everyone who comes through the gate the rules and the hazards, and show who is building. On a typical site that means a safety board and PPE signs at the entrance, warning, traffic and directional signs inside, and mesh banners or hoarding panels along the perimeter. Here is what goes where, with the sizes, materials and “from” prices we print them in.
What construction site signage has to do #
Under the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015, the principal contractor is expected to prevent unauthorised access and to make sure site rules and hazards reach everyone on site, visitors included. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 then require a safety sign wherever a significant risk remains after other controls. Signs do not replace fencing, supervision or inductions; they back them up. Your construction phase plan and risk assessments decide which hazards need signing, and the HSE construction pages set out the wider duties.
At the site entrance #
The gate is where people make up their minds whether the rules apply to them, so it carries the most signage.
- Site safety board: the 8 Message Site Safety Board puts the core rules in one place. Site Safety Notice, Site Safety Rules and Site Safety Starts Here boards do the same job with different layouts. All come in A1 (594 × 841 mm), 700 × 1000 mm and A0 (841 × 1189 mm) on 3.5 mm Correx, 3 mm Foamex or 3 mm Dibond, from £57.10.
- Public warning: Warning to the Public: Building Sites Are Dangerous and Danger Construction Site boards, also from £57.10, face outwards for passers-by and children.
- Entrance and visitors: Caution Site Entrance and All Visitors Report to Site Office signs, A3 landscape (420 × 297 mm) from £28.97.
- PPE: PPE Must Be Worn and No Hat No Boots No Job, either as rigid signs from £28.97 or as site banners from £46.10 at 3 ft 11 in × 2 ft 7 in (1200 × 800 mm).
As a rule of thumb we allow about 1 metre of viewing distance for every 25 mm of sign height. That puts an A1 board at about 24 m, 700 × 1000 mm at about 28 m and A0 at about 34 m, which matters if the gate is set back from the road.
Perimeter banners and hoardings #
Heras fence and mesh banners
Heras fence mesh banners are 10 ft 10 in × 5 ft 11 in (3300 × 1800 mm) on 260gsm mesh, hemmed with eyelets, from £178.44 and 6 working days on Standard. That size covers a standard temporary fence panel with room for ties at the edges. For smaller messages, construction site banners are mesh from £41.21 at 4 ft × 2 ft (1219 × 610 mm), up to 13 ft 1 in × 3 ft 3 in (4000 × 1000 mm) or 9 ft 10 in × 6 ft 7 in (3000 × 2000 mm). Heras PVC banners start at £65.42 for 6 ft 7 in × 3 ft 3 in (2000 × 1000 mm).
Mesh is the usual choice on a fence or scaffold because wind passes through it. Solid PVC catches the wind like a sail, which loads the fence feet and can tip a line of panels, so use it only on sheltered runs or with closer supports. Our guides to fitting a banner on Heras fencing and PVC or mesh go into the detail. For scaffold, scaffold banners run from 9 ft 10 in × 6 ft 7 in (3000 × 2000 mm) at £178.06 to 16 ft 5 in × 9 ft 10 in (5000 × 3000 mm).
Hoarding boards
On longer jobs in town, a solid hoarding looks tidier and is harder to climb. Printed hoarding boards come in 3 ft 3 in × 3 ft 3 in (1000 × 1000 mm), 4 ft × 4 ft (1220 × 1220 mm) and 8 ft × 4 ft (2440 × 1220 mm), on 3 mm Dibond, 5 mm Foamex or 10 mm Foamex, from £146.95. Plan the hoarding as a run of panels and keep phone numbers and key words away from the joins.
Construction site signage inside the site #
Once people are through the gate, construction site signage shifts from keeping people out to steering them safely. Our construction site signs and the traffic, directional and waste signs beside them mostly come in A3 landscape (420 × 297 mm), A2 landscape (594 × 420 mm) and A1 landscape (841 × 594 mm) on Correx, Foamex or Dibond, from £28.97.
| Job | Examples |
|---|---|
| Hazards | Danger Deep Excavations, Caution Falling Debris, Warning Fragile Roof, Danger Men Working Overhead, Danger Overhead Crane |
| Vehicles | No Reversing Without Banksman, Caution Pedestrians Crossing, Caution 10 mph Site Speed Limit, Watch Out for Trucks |
| Directions | Site Office with arrows, Pedestrians with arrows, Construction Traffic, Footpath Closed, Diversion |
| Waste | General Waste, Timber Waste, Plasterboard Waste, Inert Clean Waste, Rubbish to Be Left in Not on Skips |
Site speed limit and pedestrian route messages also come as site banners (5 mph, 10 mph and Pedestrians Must Use This Route) from £46.10, which suit long haul roads where a small sign gets lost. For plant and access equipment, ladder inspection and thorough examination (LOLER) labels start at £27.22.
Which material for which job #
Most construction site signage is printed on one of four materials, and the right one depends on how long the sign stays up and what it is fixed to.
- 3.5 mm Correx: light, waterproof and easy to cable-tie to fencing. The default for short and medium jobs, and cheap enough to replace when phases change. More in what is Correx.
- 3 mm Dibond: rigid aluminium composite for signs that stay up for the whole of a long build, or get knocked by plant.
- 3 mm Foamex: suits site cabins, welfare units and canteens indoors.
- Mesh banner: fences and scaffold, anywhere wind is a factor.
Placement tips #
- Put the safety board at eye level beside the gate, facing people as they arrive, not on the gate itself where it swings out of view.
- Repeat PPE and visitor signs at every entrance, including the pedestrian gate.
- Move signs as the job moves. A sign for a hazard that has gone teaches people to ignore signs.
- Sign both ends of any footpath closure, with the diversion arrow pointing the right way.
- Check fixings and cable ties after strong wind and at each weekly inspection.
Ordering #
Order construction site signage before the gate opens, not the week it does. Standard production is 3 working days for Correx site signs and safety boards, 4 for Heras PVC banners, 5 for site banners and 6 for mesh banners, counted from when your order and artwork are confirmed. Banners over 3 m on any side and boards larger than A0 add a one-off £15 oversize charge per order. UK mainland delivery is £7.95, free when the goods total is £99 or more. Everything for builders is gathered in our builders and construction hub, and for a full site pack or a sign we do not list, use get a quote or call 0161 315 1151.
