What To Avoid When Buying Braille Tactile Signs

It is important to note that not all Braille and Tactile Wayfinding Signs are the same. Both here, in Australia, and overseas, the industry is full of manufacturers who use inferior production methods and materials. This ultimately results in poor quality Braille and Tactile Wayfinding products entering the market at seemingly lower prices. While in some of these cases the initial cost saving factors may form an attractive business case to consider, it is important that clients strongly evaluate the longer-term costs that may arise for these products should they fail. In many cases, clients choosing cheaper inferior products not only risk their signage being non-compliant to relevant standards and codes, but seeing the initial savings gained being significantly outweighed once their products fail and require replacement. Repainting initial mounting substrates and filling in holes, amongst other re-installation costs, can really add up! Not to mention the costs for the additional replacement sign.

By choosing quality manufacturers of Braille Tactile Wayfinding Products like Braille Tactile Signs (Aust) you are choosing fully compliant trusted products which you only have to install once.

Below are some examples of Inferior BTS Products gathered from both Australia and overseas:

Common problems with Inferior BTS
Lack of UV stabilising causing sun fading. Tactile characters stuck to face and easily picked off	Cleaning chemicals removing colours that are not encapsulated and just applied to face of sign.	Lack of UV stabilising causing sun fading. Tactile characters stuck to sign face and easily picked off
Broken Shower Sign. Colour layer cracked and unprotected.	Tactile characters stuck to sign face and easily picked off	Tactile characters and Braille stuck to sign face and easily picked off
Low cost metal sign with poor translation.	Tactile characters stuck to sign face and easily picked off.	Colour stuck on to face of metal sign, easily pulled off.
Corroded metal, on low cost metal sign after a few months facing the outside elements.	Tactile characters stuck to sign face and easily picked off.	Pop Rivet installation exposing metal and causing rust. Pop Revit positioning also compromising sign Tactile.
Braille digitally printed and not raised or domed.	Pop Revit positioning compromising Sign Tactile. Colour sticker applied to face of sign easily pulled off.	Tactile and Braille characters stuck to sign face and easily picked off. Inferior adhesive used.
Cleaning chemicals removing colours that are not encapsulated and just applied to face of sign.	Stainless Steel sign showing Fingerprints and Smears.	Pop Revit positioning compromising sign Tactile and beginning to cause corrosion.