Answers From An Expert

The color of the header must be that which is relevant to the safety signal word being used; safety red for DANGER, safety orange for WARNING, safety yellow for CAUTION, safety blue for NOTICE.

• - DANGER indicates a hazardous situation which if not avoided will result in death or serious injury, and should be limited to the most extreme situations. The DANGER header should not be used to limit access in order to prevent property damage hazards unless personal injury appropriate to the DANGER level signal word is also involved.
• - WARNING indicates a level of hazard which if not avoided could result in death or serious injury. The WARNING header should not be used to limit access in order to prevent property damage hazards unless personal injury appropriate to the WARNING level signal word is also involved.
• - The CAUTION header indicates a level of hazard which if not avoided could result in minor or moderate injury.
• - The NOTICE header is the preferred signal word to address practices not related to personal injury.

Certain plastic tags may also fail easily. Vinyl for example can embrittle with age, and Tyvek can deteriorate in the weather and blow off. Polyester tags are exceptionally strong and durable, but even polyester tags have limitations in certain environmental conditions. Polyester or vinyls however are typically the best options so long as they are matched to the conditions where either would provide the best performance. Electromark can provide the best recommendation based on our extensive experience with tagging applications. Additionally, Electromark has tag strength enhancing accessories that provide solutions where even the best tag materials cannot provide the durability required of more extreme conditions.

A frangible label material that comes off in very tiny fragments makes removal a very difficult, tedious process; and therefore unattractive to vandals. A frangible material simply requires a great deal of concentrated effort to remove and in the end, the potential vandal/defacer abandons the effort in frustration. The frangibility of a label material does not however deter from its durability towards properly suited label applications. Once installed it is fully supported by the surface to which it is adhered and only exhibits destruction upon forceful attempt to remove.

These conditions can include UV degradation from sunlight, chemicals, abrasion, temperature extremes, impact, bending, and even attractiveness to theft due to scrap value. Two of Electromark’s most durable sign materials for these conditions include fiberglass and porcelain.

Electromark’s fiberglass sign carries a 20 year warranty, and has field service history experience supplying it’s fiberglass signs for greater than 25 years with no reported failures. In addition, Electromark’s fiberglass sign offers exceptional chemical resistance, impact resistance, and cold weather performance.

Porcelain enamel signs graphics are composed of a glass-based inorganic pigment mixture stenciled onto the porcelain coated surface. Like the porcelain base coat, each color is fired in a kiln and fuses with the base coat color to become one with the sign. Unlike competitor’s signs that use more common and corrosion prone low-carbon base steel substrate, Electromark exclusively uses non-corrosive stainless steel. Electromark’s porcelain sign carries a 30 year warranty, and porcelain signs can last 50 years or longer. In addition, Electromark’s porcelain signs offer very high heat resistance (1400°F), and exceptional resistance to abrasion/scratching, chemicals, and corrosion.

Contact us with the details of your application and we can recommend the best sign material for your requirements.