Case study · Education / Higher Education
University of Leicester
Chemistry and life-sciences lab signage
COSHH cabinet labelling, fume cupboard signage, biohazard zones, and emergency egress for a refurbished chemistry and life-sciences building. CLP/GHS labelling station deployed for in-house ongoing labelling.
320
Signs across the building
24
Fume cupboards labelled
1
In-house labelling station deployed
CL2
Highest containment signed
The challenge
The University was completing a £14m refurbishment of its chemistry and life-sciences teaching and research building. Signage needed to cover the full COSHH 2002 environment — labelled cabinet doors, decanted-container labels, biohazard signage at containment-rated rooms, fume cupboard PPE signs, eye-wash directional signage, and emergency egress (some routes specifically chemical-safe rather than fire-default).
What we did
Two-layer signage approach: BS EN ISO 7010 workplace signs at room and cabinet level; CLP/GHS labels at substance/container level. We supplied a thermal-printer labelling station to the technical team for ongoing decanted-container labelling rather than locking the University into bespoke print orders for every reagent. Biohazard signage to BS 5378 with containment level (CL1-CL2) clearly marked. Photoluminescent emergency egress signs in chemical storage rooms where lighting failure was a foreseeable scenario.
University of Leicester completed a £14m refurbishment of its chemistry and life-sciences teaching and research building, expanding research capacity and modernising teaching laboratories. Signage was contracted as part of the building handover scope.
The brief
A high-density COSHH and biohazard environment with mixed users — undergraduate teaching, postgraduate research, and technical staff. Signage had to satisfy: COSHH 2002 (cabinet labels, decanted container labels, mandatory PPE), Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2014 for the CL2 rooms, BS 5378 biohazard signage, the Equality Act 2010 for accessibility, and Fire Safety Order 2005 with chemical-aware emergency egress.
What we did
Site survey across all 8 floors with the building services lead, the safety officer, and the GMO containment officer. Two-layer signage specification: workplace-level (BS EN ISO 7010 mandatory PPE, hazard, prohibition, and emergency egress) plus substance-level (CLP/GHS labels at every container and cabinet door).
For the substance level, we supplied a thermal-printer labelling station to the University's technical team, with a substrate compatible with chemical-resistant lamination. This means the University labels decanted reagents as they go, rather than ordering bespoke runs from us — sustainable for the day-to-day teaching environment where new substances arrive constantly.
Biohazard signage at CL2 rooms used BS 5378 yellow-and-black trefoil with containment level explicit on every door. Photoluminescent egress signage in the larger chemical storage rooms in case of lighting failure during emergency response.
The handover
The building handed over on schedule with signage signed off by the safety officer at first inspection. The labelling station has been in continuous use for 2 years.
"A chemistry building isn't a single labelling problem — it's a continuous one. The labelling station they supplied changed how we run COSHH compliance day-to-day."
Departmental Safety Officer
University of Leicester
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