Anyone with a modicum of education will be perfectly aware of the power of icons. The swaztika and hammer & sycle are two that most will be familiar with. But who would of thought that the power of symbols would make its way into our field? I audited a site yesterday where the manager, wishing to convey a message through the use of symbols decided to stick some on his coshh waste drums. A bit of back ground information first. Our trade counters hold two 45gallon drums with clamp on lids in which to store coshh waste awaiting collection. There is nothing in them particularly potent, paint, silicone sealent, varnish, etc in one and aerosols in the other (all in its original containers and seperately double bagged). The icon he thought conveyed a strong message was a disc split equally into six slices, alternating in colour yellow and black with a small central dsic of black. That would certainly get the attention of the waste contractors when they came to collect the drums!!!

That was my point. He'd inadvertently used the radioactive waste symbol 'cause he thought it looked cool!

Came across a similar array of inappropriate symbols on the back of one of our vans once. The driver though it would be a "bit of a laugh". His smile soon disappeared when he was made aware of the emergency services reaction if he were to be involved in RTA.