SnfetV A good paint scheme will improve visibility, aid safety, and boost morale in industrial environments BRf V. R. CFoelCdl
F
ORTY or fifty years ago chemical
plants, railroad box cars, and farm barns were almost always painted with red oxide paint-a mixture of iron oxide and linseed oil, with probably barytes and clay added. It was a cheap paint, but a good one and engineers can be found today who will insist that it was one of the best paints we ever had for acid plants. But it was a dull, drab color. It made work seem a serious business. Many chemical plants today are painted with gay colors that spot danger points, lighten the work. area, and lift the spirit. Natlonaz Safety ConRecc data sheets The National Safety Council recently has published Data Sheet D-Cen. 44 entitled (‘Color in Industry,” which contains the most generally accepted instructions on how to use color on plant interiors. This data sheet tells how color can be used for improving visibility; i t touches on the subject of the psychology of colors; and it summarizes three codes of the American Standards Association that deal with colw. These three codes are: The safety color code for marking physical hazards and the identification of certain equipment, 253.1 Scheme for the identification of piping systems, A13 Specifications for industrial accident prevention signs, 235.1 Included also is a bibliography of sources of information. The color information in these codes and data sheet has been developed from experience and is well worth heeding because color can be applied lavishly with entirely wrong results. The first plants painted in bright colors were dolled up like Christmas trees. They were distracting, difficult to keep clean, and faulty from the standpoint of visibility. These early failings have been given due consider‘ation in present-day practice as summarized in the new National Safety Council data sheet.
November 1951
RatRthg for good atsibUitg
It is almost axiomatic that for most industrial operations, good visibility is essential to good work. Visibility is beet when light is sufficient and uniform throughout the work area. Dark surfaces on equipment or building interiors may absorb so much light that the work cannot be seen easily. Light-colored surfaces may reflect too much light and produce glare. Eye strain and fatigue may result from either condition or from a continual adjustment of the lenses of the eyes to dark surfaces and light. Reflection values for certain paints are: White Cream
88% 69%
The essentials of painting for good visibility are to use white on the ceiling and colors of medium reflectance values for working surfaces, walls, and floors. White gives the most light in the work area and since workers seldom look upward there is no dificulty from glare when white is used overhead. The brightness of wall areas in the normal range of vision of workers should not exceed the brightness of the working area, to prevent fatigue due to distractions and to continual adaptation of the eye. The hufian eye cannot stand continuous adjustment to light intensities varying from 1 to 5 (or from 1 to 10 a t the most) over long periods without severe strain. Colors having reflectance values of 50 to 60% are recommended for walls directly in line with the workers eyes. Floors should have a reflectance factor of 25%. Painting equipment and plant interiors with colorhave had amazingly favorable results. It is not surprising that a good paint job should improve visibility and aid safety by spotlighting certain hazards and by marking the locations of fire-fighting equipment and first aid stations. But one would hardly
anticipate the magnitude of the improvement in plant morale that is described in an article in the June 1951editionof Fortuns. Responsible plant executives. according to this article, say that color in the plant has reduced eye strain and physical fatigue; has been responsible for a definite improvement in prodnction; and has reduced absenteeism 200jo0. A plant dressed up with color attracts a higher type of worker. P4ntimg for Identtfdccrtion The oldest proposal for use of color in industry was probably made in 1908 when William H. Bryan read a paper before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers proposing the painting of power house piping for identification. This propom1 led to the development of a code for identification of piping systems and to its adoption by the American Standards Association 20 years later. There is a marked consistency in the colors selected for different meanings by the three American Standards Association codes and the psychological reactions to colors discussed in Data Sheet D-Gen. 44. According to the pipe code the contents of pipes are classified as follows: Fire protection, red; dangerous, orange or yellow; safe, green; protection materials, bright blue; valuable materials, purple. According to the American Standards Association Safety Color Code:
1. Red is used to identify fire protection equipment or its location, flammable liquid containers, emergency stop buttons for electrical switches, etc. 2. Yellow or yellow and black stripes is recommended for marking hazards that may result in accidents from slipping, falling, and bumping into objects 3. Green with white designaks the location of first aid and safety equipment such as shelters, gas masks, bulletin boards, etc. (Continued on page I48 A )
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4. Black and white is used for housekeeping and traffic markings Three other colors have been proposed as an addition to this code: 5. Orange, to attract attention to special hazards or guards out of place 6. Purple for radiation hasards 7 . Blue for caution, to be used at power sources, etc.
The code on accident prevention signs uses red for special, dangers; yellow for possible dangers or unsafe practices; green for safety instructions; black for directions to stairways and exists. CoLor psuchologu
The psychological reactions to color are listed in the data sheet as: Yellow tints have a cheering and stimulating effect Blue is a cool color Green has the effects of blue and is restful to the eyes Orange produces the effect of warmth Red suggests danger and excitenieiit Violet and purple imply luxury The data sheet goes on to state that men like cool colors, such as blue; momen prefer warm tones like rose; eating places are to be painted peach. Reading through this, one may question whether this assumes a greater agreement in human taste than is found anywhere else. Isn’t it possible that,a color might become tiresome? If every eating place were painted peach, might it not become decidedly unappetizing? A young artist tells me that it has been statistically “proved” that yellow is the world’s least favorite color. Yet Van Gogh who used yellow so extensively and so violently has recently become one of America’s favorite artists. Psychiatrists have associated colors with various psychoses-for example, yellorv with schizophrenia and brown nit11 manic-depressive insanity. Apparently they overlook the fact that yellow can vary in hue from reddish to greenish and also in intensity and shade; a yellow ochre, which is definitely a yellow, is so different from a cadmium yellow that the so-called psychological reactions to both could hardly be the same. The usual presentation of t h e spectrum is two dimensional; sometimes it is in the form of a wheel with three spokes, red, yellow, and blue with orange lying between (Continued on page 160 A ) 148 A
red and yellow, green between yellow and blue, etc. This is an inadequate picture. It takes no consideration of intensity and hue. Intensity varies from absolute gray to full color. There is a gray for every color of the spectrum. Some time ago experiments were carried out to establish a relationship in men’s minds between color and chords of music. Presumably, then, one could describe a color to a nian who has been blind from birth by merely sitting down a t the piano and striking a G minor fifth; or one could consult him on an interior decoration problem: “DO you think curtains of this F sharp major tiiad shade will look well with a rug about the color of this E minor ninth?”
Color solves housebeping and safetuproblems To a layman it seems as though much that has been said and written about the psychological effects of color is an extrapolation far beyond the last reliable point of evidence. There is no doubt, however, that color on equipment and plant interior improves the plant inorale. I t generates a pride in the plant and in the job. It is one of the biggest helps in solving housekeeping problems. Anything that’increases employee interest in the job and improves housekeeping i ill automatically increase safety. There is gold a t the end of this rainbow. The recommendations to be found in Data Sheet D-Gen. 44 are sound and probably any specific recommendations of a paint man, who is a color expert also, would be sound. But if it is your plant that is being painted and you do not like the expert’s selection, paint it with colors of your choice. You are going to have t,o live with it, and your choice may meet the needs of your plant as well as those of the expert. Correspondence concerning this column will be forwarded promptly if a,ddressed t o the author. % Editor, INDUSTRIAL A N D E N Q I N E E R I N Q CHEMISTRY, 1155--16th St., N.W., Washington 8 , D. c.
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