Know The Color of Safety:

The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has developed universal standards for color. These standards adopted by OSHA were put in place to help train employees, protect workers, designate the location of safety equipment and first aid supplies, identify hazardous machinery or parts and reduce workplace accidents.

Standardizing colors is beneficial when workers must move from one job to another and eliminates the need for lengthy written descriptions on signs.

Some colors such as Red can have several meanings but in general terms red means “Danger” or “Stop”. It is the standard safety color for flammable liquids and safety cans as well as emergency stop buttons, fire extinguishers or hydrants and electrical hazards.

Safety Color Coding;

Yellow-Caution

Used in the background color for caution safety labels and signs. Used for storage cabinets, for marking handrails and overhead beams, and all potential physical hazards such as tripping, falling, pinching and etc.

Purple-For Radiation Hazards and exposure

Blue-Warning for moving or starting equipment under repairs

Also used for electrical controls, scaffolding and ladders, starting controls and other machinery

Orange-Warning for dangerous machinery parts and energized equipment

Used for the background color for all “warning” signs and labels.

White/Black-Housekeeping and traffic markings

Used on boundaries for stairways, for directional signs and for traffic isles.

Green-Location for first aid equipment and “safety” supplies.

Used on the background color for all “Safety” signs and marking the location for all first aid equipment and supplies.

Red-Danger

Used on all emergency stop buttons and bars. Red is also used to mark fire alarm boxes, extinguishers and hydrants. Red is used for color coding flammable liquids.

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