1.1 HEALTH AND SAFETY 1 Can you talk about an accident that you have recently heard of in the news? How many safety signs can you see every day and where do you see them? SAFETY RULES AND SIGNS Safety at work The safety of workers is a common concern. Newspapers and TV channels often report news of accidents, some of them very serious, that have occurred to workers while they were working, and have sometimes caused the death of the people involved . To avoid this, rules and laws have been made to prevent workers from being hurt or injured while using machines, tools, chemicals, or electricity at work. Safety signs Safety signs are often displayed in places where electrical machinery, tools, or chemicals are used to promote safe behaviour among workers or visitors. Signs can indicate: prohibition: they are usually round and red, often with a diagonal red bar; obligation: they are usually round and blue; Some rules Here are some examples of general rules to follow in order to work safely: use Personal Protective Equipment or PPE (protective clothing, a hard hat, safety goggles, gloves, safety boots or shoes); make sure that machines and tools are turned off before working on them; follow the instructions for each machine or tool provided by the manufacturer; ONLINE RESOURCES Is working in Italy safe? arrow: freccia concern: preoccupazione to injure: ferire to occur: capitare premises: locale (n.) to prevent: prevenire to warn: avvisare 14 COMMON GROUND always concentrate while doing your job. Employers generally provide instructions on the premises where machines are located and tools are used, together with safety signs. Workers and visitors must pay attention to these signs, as they warn them about the risks that they may be exposed to. warning: they are usually triangular yellow signs; directions: they often make use of arrows; emergency equipment: they are usually rectangular, green signs; the equipment to use in case of fire: they are red and have a rectangular shape.