a short history on the word "danger" employed as a safety mechanism in a factory setting.

one of the fundamental steps in accident prevention in a factory setting is warning the workmen of the presence of danger. during the late 19th and early 20th century, this proved challenging because of the great variety of languages spoken. in the iron and steel industry alone, over twenty-one languages and many dialects were spoken, each by large numbers of immigrant workers.

as a means of accident prevention, danger signs would be placed at danger points and warnings being given in the languages most used in the respective plants. but in the presence of peril, prompt action was necessary and warnings given in many languages were not proven to be satisfactory.

what was needed was a danger sign that could be instantly recognized as such by every man. to meet this need, the "universal danger" sign or symbol, in the form of a cardinal-red oval, was adopted by the united states steel corporation in august of 1911, and gained widespread use in the plants of all its subsidiaries and in those of several independent companies.

one of the earliest and perhaps most recognizable (even to this day) danger signs was designed with the word "danger" in white letters againt a cardinal-red oval, surrounded by a jet black background, which was copyrighted by james wesley stonehouse in 1912. stonehouse went on to form the stonehouse steel sign company that specialized in accident prevent signage used throughout factories, commercial facilities and the like. their facility, (based in denver, co.) still produces most of the same signage still seen today.

several other companies, including, but not limited to, ready-made of new york, strong, kennard & nutt co. of cleveland, industrial products corp. of philadelphia, manufactured similar signs - either of 18 gauge steel or rolled iron with a multi-coat porcelain or viterous enameled finish format.

these early danger, warning or cautionary signs were designed to provide a forceful, initial warning of danger with explanation and that more fully defined the nature and location of the danger. the initial warning was typically given by some word, combination of words, symbol or device generally recognized as a danger signal - or, the "universal danger signal." such words as "danger," "warning," "stop" and such symbolic devices as the skull and cross bones, the hand of thor grasping the thunderbolt, and the disc or ball of red were common examples. the lettering of danger signs were very clear, plain and distinct, typically using block lettering. no added embellishment was necessary. there was strong contrast between the letters and the background - often using red or blue as the primary background.

the earliest and thus more sought after and/or collectible danger signs used in the first two decades of 20th century industrial plants and factories contained bold white lettering against a cobalt blue background.

several of the aforementioned signs are found across categories on the urban remains website.