Could someone please tell me,
Is there a standard colour-coding system for Electrical pushbuttons and indicator lights used in factories and the like.
I realise that Red and Green universally mean Stop and Go respectively, but are there other colours for say, Pump Fail, Up, Down, Left, Right and Inch?.

Funny you should mention this, as I was reading a thread on a similar topic a few days ago (sorry, I can't provide a link, but I think it might have been on the www.eng-tips.com board).

Much of the discussion was about status indicators in industrial systems of various types, and it sounds as though there are a variety of in-house standards.

Status indicators for circuit-breakers in power plants were mentioned, with some using red=closed, green=open, others vice versa. Somebody else mentioned similar differences to show valve status on pipelines, with systems that used one common color for closed and a different color to show open depending upon the pipeline contents.

 
Go nuts..
www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=39408
www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=48055




[This message has been edited by Bjarney (edited 01-09-2005).]

Red or Green?
What does it mean?.
{Sorry this isn't a sad attempt at a Haiku}
But, Personally I reckon that there should be some sort of standard written for this sort of thing.
After all what does a Blue button mean?.

This past summer I learned that we have been doing it backwards for years.

We have always used green=run and red=stop, makes sense like a traffic light.

The proper way is red=danger=run and green=safe=stop. I learned this after we installed some Siemens motor controls that were all assembled this way and I did some research to find out why.

I'm sure that there are ANSI standards to support this, but I don't know what they are.

GJ

Wow, just went back and read the links that bjarney provided......what a can of worms! Does anyone have access to NFPA 79?

[This message has been edited by golf junkie (edited 01-09-2005).]

My company uses the following:

Red-stop
Green-Run
Yellow-Reset
Black-Jog
Blue-Misc.
We use a lot of illuminated pb's and always a Red illuminated mushroom for E-stop

Hey guys,
I have worked at several industrial facilities, and they have all been Red=run=open(valve) Green=stop=closed.
As far as the computer control system, Yellow=trip/fault Purple=bad input.

I am equally sure that there is a standard, but I have yet to see one spelled out simply.

Big Ed

What's that line again? "The nice thing about standards is that there are so many to chose from."

The problem with trying to introduce any one standard now is that a lot of people won't want to change something which they perceive as having worked perfectly well within their own industry for a long time.

When faced with something such as red and green having opposite meanings in different plants, whoever changed is going to have a real tough time making sure there are no mishaps too.

There's an interesting post in one of the threads BJ linked to about the Navy not using red indicators at all, due to the use of red background lighting for "silent running."

Paul,
I spent 6 years on submarines, they use the red=off=closed(valve)=open(bkr) convention. Almost all indicators are illuminated so that even in the "rigged for red" environment they are still easily identified.

That was the US fleet, I am just guessing, but I assume the the "uk" at the end of your moniker stands for United Kingdom?

I only had the pleasure of visiting one British submarine, and while it was very interesting, I cannot recall the indication scheme.

In a side note I must mention that the sub that I visited was involved in "war games" with us and both of our surface forces. The UK is, frankly, frighteningly good at their anti-sub warfare. Side effect of being an island nation, maybe?
I have a great deal of respect for our "neighbors across the pond".

Big Ed

Ed,

Yes, I'm in England. I'm not sure where all the people posting on Eng-Tips are though, as the that forum doesn't appear to
log locations.

Here's the relevant extract from that second link:
Is that incorrect, or do ships use different schemes than subs?

Well, we're said to be a maritime nation -- Britannia rules the waves etc. We had quite a lot of practice with subs during the 1940s too.

It wouldn't suprise me if the ships were different from the subs. The only surface vessels that I ever had the oppurtunity to look at were older support ships, so they may have changed (although change is a dirty word for the military). They were the same as the sub, the engineering spaces anyway.
Having seen these indcators in a "red" environment, they are still very easy to dicsern.
The funny thing is, it is green that would be bad when "rigged for red". The idea behind it being that red light is less detrimental to your night vision. It turns out that green and blue are the worst. Wavelength thing, I guess.

The only thing that seems to be standard about standards is that they are never standard.