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Color-coding is a visual organizational technique we learned as children and continue to use every day in all aspects of life. A simple visual cue such as color is effective in the plant, lab, warehouse and shop for lean initiatives, visual communication, safety and organization.
Thanks to our partner K-Sun, Wiremarkersplus has more than 92 colors and sizes of heat-shrink tubing, adhesive label, iron-on cloth labels and wire flag cartridges. In 2011 K-Sun added two colors of heat shrink tube material and in 2012 we are adding even more colors and sizes. Using color to communicate is important because:
- Color labels provide more effective communication
- Color labels communicate quicker and more effectively
- Color labels result in quicker comprehension
- Color labels attract attention
- Color labels draw more attention to the message
- Color labels can categorize the message
As long as everyone understands the color "code" or system, there is immediate identification and, thus, communication. For example, recommended standards for pipes include certain colors for various types of water/waste/chemical lines and other lines such as compressed air, steam or gas.
The Safety Color Code for Marking Physical Hazards (OSHA 29 CFR 1910, 144, 145 & ANSI Z535 Safety Color Code) outlines several colors used to denote physical hazards:
- Danger signs need to be red, white and black
- Caution signs need to be yellow, black and white
- Safety instruction signs need to be green and white
- Safety red is used for
protection equipment, containers holding flammable liquid, lights at barricades, fire alarm boxes, fire exit signs and sprinkler pipes
- Safety yellow is to denote cautions and hazards, construction equipment, handrails/guardrails, material handling equipment, pipes carrying dangerous materials, waste containers, exposed edges
- Safety orange is used for dangerous machine parts, insides of guards, safety start buttons, exposed parts
- Safety blue is used for caution and equipment under repair, warning at a starting point or power source
- Safety green is used for first aid equipment, general safety equipment, safety bulletin boards, gas masks, stretchers, showers
- Black and white is used to denote traffic and housekeeping markings, dead ends of aisles or hallways, stairways, directional signs and garbage cans
- Safety purple is used for radiation hazards used in combination with yellow on tags, labels, signs and floor markers
Color is effectively used by professionals such as these in many industries for labeling, signage, heat-shrink tubing, and pipe marking plus dozens of other applications:
| Wire/cable professionals |
IT/data professionals |
Electrical designers/installers |
Lean/process improvement professionals |
| Plant/equipment managers |
HVAC professionals |
Safety directors |
K-Sun makes color no more expensive; in fact, color is the same price as black-on-white or clear labels. K-Sun label printers also have more than 1,100 symbols built into memory, including European/Latin American/Greek letters for creating labels in other languages, plus abbreviations, arrows, parenthetical marks and more. With K-Sun it is a snap to create custom and professional signs and labels in color!
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