Safety Colors
Certain colors of safety signs have specific meanings. According to, The health and safety (safety signs and signals) regulations of 1996, a safety color table is given below that identifies the colors for safety signs generally but excluding fire safety signs.
This table also portrays the intrinsic features of different types of signs and signals.
Safety Colors Definition
Color | Meaning or Purpose | Instruction and Information |
Red | Prohibition sign Danger alarm | Dangerous behavior; Stop; Shutdown; Emergency cut-out devices; Evacuate |
Yellow or Amber | Warning sign | Be careful; Take precautions; Examine |
Blue | Mandatory sign | Action or Specific behavior |
Green | Emergency escape first aid sign | Doors; Exits; Escape routes; Equipment and facilities |
White | No Danger | Return to normal |
According to, the health and safety (safety signs and signals) regulations of 1996, safety colors are given below that identifies colors for fire safety signs.
Colors For Fire Safety Signs
Color | Meaning or Purpose | Instruction and Information |
Red | Firefighting equipment | Identification and location |
Green | Emergency escape | Doors; Exits; Escape routes |
Gas Safety Signs and Symbols
Gases are often dangerous. This is why they are stored in special containers or gas cylinders. Gas cylinders are equipped with statutory color coding and labels to make the user of the gas cylinder aware of the possible risks.
Cylinder Color Codes
Colors codes help us to identify gas cylinders. The color enables us to identify the risk from a great distance. Different countries have completely different gas color codes however tries square measure was created to standardize the colors of cylinder shoulders.
Therefore, one should not rely only on the color of a cylinder to indicate what it contains. The label should always be checked for product identification.
There is a near-universal color code for the most common gases – the code for oxygen is white, for nitrogen it’s black, for carbon dioxide it’s grey, for air it’s light green and the code for acetylene is maroon.
But you will always need to check on the label. For better understanding a near-universal color code table is given below:
Near Universal Color Code
Color |
Code (Gas) |
White | Oxygen |
Black | Nitrogen |
Grey | Carbon dioxide |
Light Green | Air |
Maroon | Acetylene |
Fire Extinguisher Codes |
- Water Extinguishers: Red body.
- Foam Extinguishers: Red body with The Cream label.
- Powder Extinguishers: Red body with The Blue label.
- Carbon dioxide (co2) Extinguishers: Red body with The Black label.
Safety Warning Signs In The Workplace
You may have seen some of these safety signs: The different colors and shapes are important.
Do you know what the different colors and shapes mean?
Safety Signs
Blue/White = Must Do
Green/White = Safety Information
Red/White = Must Not Do
Yellow/Black = Health & Safety Hazard Warning
There are 5 key types of health and safety signs which include the following:
- Prohibition
- Mandatory
- Warning
- Safe Condition
- Fire Equipment
Watch the below YouTube Video for more information: