Workforce Management

The Safety Color Wheel

Ella Baker
color wheel
Reading time 3 Mins
Published on Sep 11
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Using color to protect your employees’ safety

Color is used throughout the workplace to help prevent injuries and to create a safer work environment. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have published lists of the approved colors used to designate various threat and hazard levels in the workplace. Standardizing these colors allows employees to easily identify potential hazards and act quickly in an emergency situation. By adopting the use of these standard safety colors, you can help prevent injuries in the workplace, reducing your workers’ compensation costs and liability. Learn more about how to use color to protect your employees’ safety.

Red

Red is the color used to identify fire protection equipment, danger signs indicating risk of severe injury or death, containers of flammable liquids, and emergency stop buttons and alarms. Since red tends to create a sense of urgency in the human brain, it is used to signal the most dangerous of situations and paths to safety, including emergency exits, sprinklers, and fire protection materials.

Yellow

Yellow is used to designate caution and to mark physical hazards. Yellow is the most easily noticeable color and is used to mark attention-grabbing safety precautions such as pedestrian crossings, yield signs, and the “slow” signal at three-color traffic lights.

Yellow is also used within the industrial space for items, with construction vehicles, hard hats, caution tape, safety vests, and cones often manufactured in shades of bright yellow to quickly catch passersby or workers’ attention and heighten safety awareness. Yellow is meant to highlight instruction and warnings. Caution statements, items that pose minor risk of injury and material-handling equipment are often posted on yellow backgrounds.

Orange

Where red represents danger and yellow designates caution, orange is used to warn workers of moderate or risks. Typically used in areas or on equipment that pose a moderate risk of injury, orange signs can also be used to mark guard devices, processes, and machinery.

Blue

In the workplace, blue represents information. Blue signage often marks general tips and information for workers. General health and safety reminders, waste disposal reminders, and inventory storage reminders are often marked in blue.

Green

Green is used to indicate safety-related instructions and procedures, as well as locations of safety equipment. Used in traffic lights to indicate the “go” signal, green is often associated with safety. This association, along with its distinct and recognizable hue, has led to the adoption of green as the color of safety in the workplace.

Helping watch out for your employees’ safety

Adopting the use of standard safety colors in your workplace not only protects the health and safety of your employees but can also save your company extensive workers’ compensation costs. Let your partners at Sheakley help you protect the safety of your employees and the financial health of your company. Learn more about how working with Sheakley’s workers’ compensation experts can help you implement the use of safety colors in the workplace.

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