1318

AS 1318—1985

Australian Standard

SAA Industrial Safety Colour Code

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

This Australian standard was prepared by Committee SF/5, Industrial Warning Signs.It was approved on behalf of the Council of the Standards Association of Australia on27 December 1984 and published on 3 May 1985.

The following interests are represented on Committee SF/5:

Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine

Bureau of Steel Manufacturers of Australia

Confederation of Australian Industry

Department of Defence

Department of Employment and Industrial Relations

Department of Labour, S.A.

Department of Industrial Relations, N.S.W.

Electricity Supply Association of Australia

Ethnic Affairs Commission, N.S.W.

Ministry of Employment and Training, Vic.

National Safety Council of Australia

Railways of Australia Committee

Safety Institute of Australia

The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy

University of Sydney

Review of Australian Standards.To keep abreast of progress in industry, Australian Standards are subjectto periodic review and are kept up to date by the issue of amendments or new edit ions as necessary. It isimportant therefore that Standards users ensure that they are in possession of the latest edit ion, and anyamendments thereto.

Full details of all Australian Standards and related publications will be found in the Standards AustraliaCatalogue of Publications; this information is supplemented each month by the magazine ‘The AustralianStandard’, which subscribing members receive, and which gives details of new publications, new editionsand amendments, and of withdrawn Standards.

Suggestions for improvements to Australian Standards, addressed to the head office of Standards Australia,are welcomed. Noti fication of any inaccuracy or ambiguity found in an Australian Standard should be madewithout delay in order that the matter may be investigated and appropriate action taken.

This standard was issued in draft form for comment as DR 84035.

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

AS 1318—1985

Australian Standard

USE OF COLOUR FOR THEMARKING OF PHYSICALHAZARDS AND THEIDENTIFICATION OF CERTAINEQUIPMENT IN INDUSTRYknown as the

SAA INDUSTRIAL SAFETYCOLOUR CODE

First published (as AS CZ 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1952AS 1318 fi rst published . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1972Second edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1985Amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 1986Reprinted incorporating amendment . . . . . . . . . 1986

PUBLISHED BY STANDARDS AUSTRALIA(STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA)1 THE CRESCENT, HOMEBUSH, NSW 2140

ISBN 0 7262 3682 9

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

AS 1318—1985 2

PREFACEThis edition of this standard was prepared by the Association’s Committee on Industrial WarningSigns, under the direction of the Safety Standards Board, to supersede AS 1318—1972.

The standard is intended to provide rules for the use of certain colours for the marking of physicalhazards and for the identification of certain equipment in industry. Such colour coding should forman integral part of the total safety information system of any occupational environment. Attentionis drawn to the fact that education and training are an essential part of any system for giving safetyinformation and that implementation of colour coding in accordance with this standard does notreplace the need for proper accident prevention measures.

The principal changes in this edition are as follows:

(a) Reference to AS K185, Colours for Specific Purposes, has been deleted and the colours havebeen specified in terms of chromaticity coordinates and photometric properties. In addition,colours listed in AS 2700 and BS 5252 and known to fall within the coordinates (colour boxes)are listed.

(b) The colour for emergency exit signs is now green (i.e. safe condition) in lieu of red. Thischange is in agreement with that introduced in AS 1319, Safety Signs for the OccupationalEnvironment, AS 2293, Emergency Evacuation Lighting in Buildings and in ISO 3864, SafetyColours and Safety Signs.

CONTENTS

Page

SECTION 1. SCOPE AND GENERAL

1.1 Scope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.2 Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.3 Referenced Documents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.4 Colour Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.5 Contrast Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31.6 Materials Used and their Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

SECTION 2. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF RED

2.1 Applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42.2 Typical Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

SECTION 3. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF YELLOW


SECTION 4. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF GREEN


SECTION 5. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF BLUE


APPENDIX A. PHOTOMETRIC AND COLORIMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THEMATERIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Copyright STANDARDS AUSTRALIA

Users of Standards are reminded that copyright subsists in all Standards Australia publications and software. Except where theCopyright Act allows and except where provided for below no publications or software produced by Standards Australia may bereproduced, stored in a retrieval system in any form or transmit ted by any means without prior permission in wri ting fromStandards Australia. Permission may be conditional on an appropriate royalty payment. Requests for permission and information oncommercial software royalties should be directed to the head off ice of Standards Australia.

Standards Australia wil l permit up to 10 percent of the technical content pages of a Standard to be copied for useexclusively in-house by purchasers of the Standard without payment of a royalty or advice to Standards Australia.

Standards Australia wil l also permit the inclusion of its copyright material in computer software programs for no royaltypayment provided such programs are used exclusively in-house by the creators of the programs.

Care should be taken to ensure that material used is from the current edition of the Standard and that it is updated whenever theStandard is amended or revised. The number and date of the Standard should therefore be clearly identif ied.

The use of material in print form or in computer software programs to be used commercially, with or without payment, or incommercial contracts is subject to the payment of a royalty. This policy may be varied by Standards Australia at any time.

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

3 AS 1318—1985

STANDARDS ASSOCIATION OF AUSTRALIA

Australian Standard

for

USE OF COLOUR FOR THE MARKING OF PHYSICAL HAZARDS AND THEIDENTIFICATION OF CERTAIN EQUIPMENT IN INDUSTRY

SECTION 1. SCOPE AND GENERAL

1.1 SCOPE. This standard sets out requirements forthe use of certain colours for—

(a) the marking of physical hazards;

(b) the identification of certain equipment inindustry to be used in connection with accidentprevention; and

(c) general information signs.

1.2 APPLICATION. The standard shall be appliedin conjunction with the relevant provisions of safetystandards issued from time to time by the StandardsAssociation of Australia.

It is not intended that the standard be applied in amanner conflicting with any statutory regulations orgenerally accepted standards or regulations relating tothe use of colour for the identification of services inbuildings or on premises, and in this connectionattention is drawn to the following Australianstandards:

AS 1169, AS 1319, AS 1216, AS 1345, AS 1742,AS 1743, AS 1849 and AS Z29.

1.3 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS. The followingstandards are referred to in this standard:AS 1169 Minimizing of Combustion Hazards

Arising from the Medical Use ofFlammable Anaesthetic Agents

AS 1216 Classification, Hazard Identification andInformation Systems for Dangerous Goods(all parts)

AS 1319 Safety Signs for the OccupationalEnvironment

AS 1345 Identification of the Contents of Piping,Conduits and Ducts

AS 1742 Manual of Uniform Traffic ControlDevicesPart 1—Description and Use of Elemental

Traffic Control DevicesPart 2—Application of Traffic Control

Devices to Traffic SituationsAS 1743 Road SignsAS 1849 Identification Colours for Portable Fire

ExtinguishersAS 1906 Retroreflective Materials and Devices for

Road Traffic Control PurposesPart 1—Retroreflective Materials

AS 2700 Colour Standards for Paints and RelatedMaterials

AS Z29 Recommendations for Pictorial Markingsfor the Handling of Packages

BS 5252 Framework for Colour Coordination forBuilding Purposes.

1.4 COLOUR STANDARDS. The actual colourused shall comply with the colorimetric and, whereappropriate, the photometric requirements specified inAppendix A.

NOTE: Although the colours specif ied in this standard are interms of specif ied coordinates, colours listed in AS 2700 andBS 5252 and known to fall within the coordinates (colourboxes), are also listed in Table 1.1.

TABLE 1.1

COLOUR REFERENCES

Colour AS 2700 Reference BS 5252 ReferenceRed R13 (Signal Red) 04E53

Yellow Y15 (Sunflower) 08E53(preferred colour)

10E5110E55

Green G21 (Jade) 14E53

Blue B23 (Bright Blue) 20E56(preferred colour)

18D4520D4420D4518E5320E53

1.5 CONTRAST COLOURS. If a contrast colouris required to improve the visibility of the safetycolour or identified object, it shall be white or black,as shown in Table 1.2.

The contrast colour for white shall be black, and thecontrast colour for black shall be white.

TABLE 1.2

CONTRAST COLOURS

Safety Colour Contrast Colour

RedYellowGreenBlue

WhiteBlackWhiteWhite

1.6 MATERIALS USED AND THEIR APPLICA-TION. The colours should be prepared withmaterials having an appropriate colour stability underexpected conditions of use.

Safety colours should be applied so as to be clearlyvisible in all circumstances, and generally on alimited scale, so as not to interfere with colourschemes in which colours are applied to relativelylarge surfaces.

Safety colours, with or without white or black ascontrasts, can be directly applied on objects or onsafety signs.

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

AS 1318—1985 4

SECTION 2. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF RED

2.1 APPLICATIONS. Red shall be the basic orbackground colour, used alone or in conjunction withwhite lettering, stripes, or edging, to identify orindicate the location of—

(a) danger;

(b) fire protection equipment and apparatus;

(c) stop buttons and emergency stop controls.

2.2 TYPICAL EXAMPLES. The following is apartial list of appropriate applications of red inaccordance with Clause 2.1:

(a) Danger.

(i) Flashing red lights at rail crossings.

(ii) Danger and prohibition signs (see AS 1319).

(b) Fire protection equipment and apparatus.

(i) Fire alarms and boxes.

(ii) Boxes for fire blankets and fire proximitysuits.

(iii) Fire buckets.

(iv) Positions of fire extinguishers.NOTE: The colour should be used on the housing,

wall or support to indicate the location. Identi ficationcolours for the various types of f ire extinguisher aregiven in AS 1849.

(v) Position of fire hose, reels and firehydrants.NOTE: The colour should be used on the reel,supports or housing but not on the hose.

(vi) Fire pumps.

(vii) Valve locations for all fire services.

(viii) Sprinkler piping, coloured red throughoutits length or with red pipeline markersappropriately spaced (see AS 1345).

(ix) Location of any other equipment to beused in a fire emergency and which is notnormally used in the routine processes.

(c) Stop buttons and emergency stop controls.

(i) Stop buttons for electrical switches usedfor normal and emergency stopping ofmachinery.

(ii) Emergency stop bars on hazardousmachines.

(iii) Emergency stop controls of any description.

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

5 AS 1318—1985

SECTION 3. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OFYELLOW

3.1 APPLICATIONS. Yellow shall be the basic orbackground colour, used alone or in conjunction withblack for marking the following:

(a) Places where caution should be exercised andwhere cautionary notices of a general natureshould be displayed.NOTE: See AS 1319 for requirements for caution (warning)signs.

(b) Places where cautionary notices warning ofhazards from radioactive sources should bedisplayed.

Solid yellow, yellow and black stripes, or yellow andblack checks should be used interchangeably, usingthe combination which will create the best attentionin the particular environment.

NOTE: The indiscriminate use of yellow or yellow inconjunction with black is likely to detract from its value and duecare must be exercised in the use of this colour for the markingof hazards.

3.2 TYPICAL EXAMPLES. The following is apartial list of appropriate applications of yellow inaccordance with Clause 3.1:

(a) Places where caution should be exercised.

(i) Industrial locomotives, mobile plant orsuitable areas thereon.

(ii) Flashing yellow, markings at barricades, attemporary constructions or on mobileequipment.

(iii) Low pulley blocks and crane hooks.

(iv) Fixtures suspended from ceilings or wallswhich extend into normal operating areas.

(v) Markings for projections, low doorways,travelling conveyors, beams and low pipes(see AS 1345).

(vi) Corner marker for storage piles.

(vii) Coverings on guards for guy wires.

(viii) Pillars, posts or columns which might bestruck.

(ix) Barrier rails and top and bottom treads ofstairways where caution is needed; also,temporary barricades.

(x) Location and widths of aisleways andtraffic markings.

(xi) To draw attention to hazards which havebeen created by the unfastening or removalof guards or covers of industrialmachinery. This may include the markingof the interior of the guard or cover andappropriate areas of the exposed hazard.NOTE: If the yellow and black combination citedabove is not satisfactory or adequate, a specialdistinctive contrasting colour may be used.

(xii) The horizontal lips of vertically slidingcounterbalance lift doors.

(xiii) Vertical edge of horizontally sliding pairsof fire doors.

(b) Where radiation hazards from radioactivematerials exist.

(i) Rooms and areas (outside or insidebuildings) where radioactive materials arestored or handled, or which have beencontaminated with radioactive materials.

(ii) Burial grounds and storage areas forcontaminated materials and equipment.

(iii) Disposal cans for contaminated materials.

(iv) Containers of radioactive materials.

(v) Contaminated equipment that is not placedin special storage.

SECTION 4. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OFGREEN

4.1 APPLICATIONS. Green used in conjunctionwith white shall be the colour used for denotingsafety and for indicating the location of safety andfirst aid equipment (other than firefightingequipment).

Green and white in panels, green and white stripes,and green edging to a white area and solid white ongreen should be used according to local conditions.

Green should be the basic or background colour forstarting buttons and similar applications.

4.2 TYPICAL EXAMPLES. The following is a

partial list of appropriate applications of green andwhite in accordance with Clause 4.1:

(a) Location of first aid facilities, includingstretchers.

(b) Location of respiratory protective equipment andrescue equipment.

(c) Safety deluge showers or their location.

(d) Exit signs.

(e) Safety instructions signs.NOTE: See AS 1319 for emergency-related informationsigns.

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

AS 1318—1985 6

SECTION 5. APPLICATION AND EXAMPLES OF BLUE

5.1 APPLICATIONS. Blue shall be used as thebasic or background colour with white lettering formarking the following:

(a) Mandatory instructions to be followed (seeAS 1319 for mandatory action signs).

(b) Places where it is desired to convey informationof a general nature.

5.2 TYPICAL EXAMPLES

5.2.1 Mandatory (obligation) Signs. AS 1319specifies the use of the colour blue for symbolic signsdepicting locations where personal protectiveequipment must be worn. Examples are as follows:

(a) Head protection must be worn.

(b) Hearing protection must be worn.

(c) Foot protection must be worn.

5.2.2 Information Signs. Information signs are usedat those places and on subjects where there is nospecific hazard. The following is a partial list ofappropriate applications of blue in accordance withClause 5.1(b):

(a) Parking areas.

(b) Equipment storage.

(c) Toilets.

(d) Offices.

(e) Entrances.

(f) Locker rooms.

5.2.3 Physical Markings. Blue stripes may be usedon the floor to indicate those premises or partsthereof in which the wearing of personal protectiveequipment is necessary.

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

7 AS 1318—1985

APPENDIX A

PHOTOMETRIC AND COLORIMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THEMATERIALS

A1 COLOUR DESIGNATION. The safety colours listed in this standard areconsidered to be within coordinates specified in Table A1 and as shown in Fig. A1.

A2 RETROREFLECTIVE MATERIAL. The colorimetric and photometricproperties of retroreflective material used in signs shall comply with AS 1906, Part 1.

TABLE A1

COLOUR COORDINATES*

ColourChromacity coordinates of corner points determining the permit ted

colour area illuminant: Standard illuminant D 65 (45/0° geometry)

Luminancefactor ß for

ordinarymaterials

1 2 3 4

Red xy

0.6900.310

0.5950.315

0.5690.341

0.6550.345

≥ 0.07

Blue xy

0.0780.171

0.1500.220

0.2100.160

0.1370.038

≥ 0.05

Yellow xy

0.5190.480

0.4680.442

0.4270.483

0.4650.534

≥ 0.45

Green xy

0.2300.754

0.2910.438

0.2480.409

0.0070.703

≥ 0.12

White xy

0.3500.360

0.3000.310

0.2900.320

0.3400.370

≥ 0.75

Black xy

0.3850.355

0.3000.270

0.2600.310

0.3450.395

≤ 0.03

* The numbers refer to CIE (Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage) Vocabulary Publication No 17,1970, International Lighting Vocabulary.

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

AS 1318—1985 8

Fig. A1. BOUNDARIES FOR RED, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, WHITE AND BLACK ORDINARYSURFACE COLOURS

COPYRIGHT

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1

This page has been left intentionally blank.

Acc

esse

d by

TH

IES

S P

TY

LT

D o

n 28

Feb

201

1