OSHA Requirements for Safety Barricade Tape and Safety Barricade Colors

Colors are important signifiers of hazards. OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) and ANSI (American National Standards Institute) use colors extensively to indicate hazard types and severity.

Safety barricade tape and safety barricades can be different colors and patterns to communicate with workers and the public. Whether you own a commercial property, have a construction business, or are a safety/risk professional, you should know those colors and what they're meant to communicate.

In this article, we'll discuss the various barricade tape regulations, what each color communicates, and where these colors can be used to keep workers and the public safer.

Barricade Tape Regulations

According to OSHA, the definition of a barricade is: "A physical obstruction such as tapes, cones, or A-frame type wood or metal structures that provides a warning about, and limits access to, a hazardous area."

Barricades create a physical obstruction to keep people safe. Barricades come in different shapes, sizes and colors to help communicate warnings.

ANSI Z535.5-2022 sets the standard for barricade tape colors. The ANSI standard calls for high-contrast colors to be used to ensure good visibility and quick recognition. Barricade tapes also use a distinct signal word to further clarify their meaning.

• RED: Red is the color of danger. It can also mean stop. On barricade tape, this color indicates a situation that can lead to severe danger, which could result in injury or death. The signal word that may appear on the tape is "DANGER".
• FLUORESCENT ORANGE/RED: Fluorescent orange/red indicates a biohazard situation that could indicate a situation wherein infectious waste is present. The biosafety symbol may appear on the tape in a contrasting color. The tape may have the word "BIOHAZARD" on it.
• ORANGE: Orange is a color that indicates warning. Orange barricade tape indicates a hazardous situation that could result in serious injury or death. On this tape, the signal word "WARNING" appears in black letters with an exclamation mark.
• YELLOW: Yellow is the color for caution, indicating a situation that could result in injury. The signal word for this color is "CAUTION." This barricade tape is often used in areas where tripping hazards or unstable materials are present.
• BLUE: Blue is a color that indicates something important but not necessarily a hazard. Blue is informational, and the signal word may vary depending on the circumstances.
• GREEN: Green is the color of safety and might indicate the presence of safety-related equipment, or another safety-related circumstance.

Every color mentioned above is important to maintain jobsite safety. If you work in construction, you should have every one of these safety barricade tape variants available for use on jobsites. 

Construction is one of the most dangerous industries, with 1 in 5 workplace deaths occurring on construction sites in 2020. You can protect your workers and yourself using barricade tape coded with the appropriate colors.

OSHA/ANSI Safety Color Coding

OSHA/ANSI safety color coding is used in many workplaces, including: warehouses, construction sites, healthcare establishments, retail locations, factories, and more.

Safety color coding is uniform everywhere in order to make the colors easier to learn and recognize.

Colored Tape Applications

Barricade tape can be used in areas where dangers or hazards can easily lead to injury. Barricade tape is used to create a boundary beyond which workers should not go unless they exercise appropriate levels of caution. Barricade tape also helps keep members of the public out of areas where hazards exist.

In public areas or areas accessible to the public, barricade tape can help regulate traffic. Barricade tape can be used with actual barricades to reinforce the boundaries of the area and create a more formidable perimeter.

Barricade tapes are used in construction sites and development zones and can be used by law enforcement and firefighting groups to control crowds, establish areas where admittance is only for those with the authority to be there.

There are many places in the workplace where colored tape can be used. It's important to coordinate the safety color code with the purpose of the tape. Some places where you can expect to see barricade tape in the workplace include:

• Confined spaces
• Near compressed gas cylinders
• Near shower stations/eyewash stations
• Around hazardous chemicals or hazardous waste
• In high voltage areas
• Around ladders
• Near toxic or corrosive fluids

Are There Regulations for Safety Barricade Colors?

There are no specific regulations for safety barricade colors, only for safety barricade tape. However, there are many factors to consider when choosing safety barricade colors for your jobsite, special event, construction site or workplace.

Reinforce Barricade Tape

Choose the color of your safety barricade to match the color of your barricade tape. This helps call attention to the warning or danger that is present on your jobsite. If your business makes regular use of barricade tape as well as barricades themselves, then it's helpful to have a range of barricade colors on hand to convey messages to workers.

Branding

Branding matters on the jobsite, especially if your jobsite is open to the public. Use barricades of different colors to convey your branding and coordinate with your logo and related messaging.

One way to reinforce branding with barricades is to attach professional signs to the barricades with barricade covers. When pairing barricades with chain-link fences, cover the fence topper with a customized fence screen, and use it to convey information to the crowd. 

Help Barricades Blend In

One more reason your business may want colored barricades is to help them blend in. While many companies want their barricades to stand out, there are some circumstances where it's more appropriate to allow barricades to blend into the background.

Barricades can be just as effective when they're less noticeable as when they're more noticeable. If aesthetics are important in the environment where the barricade is being used, then a color that allows it to coordinate with other elements in the environment may be just as well.

Best barricades for Crowd Control

When choosing a barricade for your jobsite, workplace, or special event, several critical factors must be considered. Safety color code requirements, OSHA barricade requirements, and the strength, durability, and longevity of the barricades all play a significant role in ensuring effective crowd control and management.

There's a lot to consider when you're trying to choose the best products for each situation, and that’s why we’ve created a list of the best products indicated for crowd control and crowd management, along with some practical tips for crowd safety you must implement at your next event!

With the right barricades and safety measures, you can ensure the well-being of everyone involved and achieve a successful and secure event or jobsite.