Braille Signs & Engraved Door Signs

What is a Braille Sign and how should it be displayed?

Braille signs are door signs with a simplified code of tactile lettering involving small raised bumps that can be read quickly when a blind person feels the lettering.

They are a requirement of the DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) in Australia for ‘Disability access to Premises’ and must comply with Australian Standards AS1428.1-2009 for design and positioning. They are mainly used for facilities wayfinding such as toilet doors, parent room doors, lifts, exit level doors, wheelchair access, staff room doors etc.

Area Safe Products Pty Ltd manufactures braille signs strictly to Australian Standards. It is rare to find braille signs that fully comply with standards, especially amongst non-specialist suppliers like hardware stores etc. AS1428.1-2009 covers details such as tactile height, text size and shape, text spacing and positioning, shape of sign edges, the surface of the sign must be continuous for hygiene purposes, etc.

Braille signs should be installed so that the braille characters are located between 1250mm and 1350mm above finished floor level. All characters on the sign should be within 1200mm and 1600mm above floor level. The left hand side “LH” or right hand side “RH” on each accessible toilet sign indicates the side that the grabrail is on when a person is sitting on the toilet

Non-compliant braille signs can potentially be rejected by building certifiers and auditors. Make sure you insist on purchasing compliant signs from a trusted supplier like Area Safe!

What is an Engraved Door Sign?

Engraved door signs are a flat plate with contrasting colour lettering or graphics recessed into the face.

They can be manufactured from materials such as traffolyte, plastic, metals, or timber. The metal options do not have a contrasting core colour and can have the engraved text paint filled for distinct contrast and a ‘well finished’ result.

• Metal substrates include Stainless Steel, Aluminium, Brass, Plastic.
• Traffolyte/Plastic substrate colours and contrasting text colours include Brushed Silver, Brushed Aluminium, Black, White, Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, Brushed Gold.

Any size can be made to order up to: 1200 x 600mm.

Area Safe Products also manufactures laser cut signs, printed signs, reflective signs and durable vinyl lettering.