The inner perimeter will be established to include all the known, observed evidence at that time. Once the inner perimeter is established, Department members will not re-enter to place crime scene evidence markers. If evidence is discovered outside the inner perimeter, a crime scene evidence marker will be placed, when necessary.
Barrier tape is something that you are bound to come across in your everyday life whether it's walking to work or driving to the store. Barricades are meant to serve as a caution and a warning of the dangers that lie within the barriers. Barrier tape can come in many different colours to signify the type of danger that lies beyond it.Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) regulations specify colour coding of barricade tape as follows:
- Red and White Striped Caution Tape – for fire prevention and protection of equipment
- Black / White – for housekeeping and aisle marking
- Magenta / Yellow – for radiation hazards
- Green / White – for safety and first aid
- Blue / White – for defective machinery
- Orange / White – for traffic and caution warnings
- Black / Yellow – for physical hazards
In addition, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) has a separate colour scheme for identifying barrier tape:
- Yellow / Black – for excavation, trip hazards, low hanging objects and material storage on site.
- Red – for overhead work, live electrical components, scaffolding under construction, or equipment with a rotating superstructure.
- Magenta (Purple) / Yellow – possible radiation exposure.
It’s important to be aware of the different types of barricade tape, especially if you are working on site. If you notice that barrier tape has been tampered with, knocked down, or removed, report it to the job lead immediately as this could result in serious consequences.
Most of the safety training courses offered at Irwin's contain additional information about barrier tape and the hazards within them.
In Unitech Supplies, we supplies both barrier tapes with wordings and barrier tapes with different colours. The barricade tapes with wordings easy to understand as the instruction such as “DANGER DO NOT ENTER” are clearly indicated on the tapes.
However, for barricade tapes that are in different colours combinations (without the wordings), most folks are not aware of the different purposes/protocols behind the different colours.
Unknown to most people, there is actually a standard protocol for the usage of different colour combination for barricade tapes and the most widely followed protocol is the 7 colour combinations protocol is specified by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) as follows:
- Red-white for Fire Prevention and Protection Equipment
- Black-white for Housekeeping and Aisle Marking
- Magenta-yellow for Radiation Hazards
- Green-white for Safety and First Aid
- Blue-white for Defective Machinery
- Orange-white for Traffic and Caution Warning
- Black-yellow for Physical Hazards
For your easy reference, below is a diagram of the protocol:
*Additionally, apart from the standard OSHA 7 colour combinations protocol, here are some of the colour combinations that are also very commonly implemented.
- Law Enforcement Tape or Police Tape: Usually in yellow-white or blue-white combination, used by the police to block off a crime scene and to inform the public that the area is being blocked off for investigation.
- Traffic Control Tape: Usually in bright solid orange or orange-white combination, used for controlling of traffic (foot and or vehicle traffic).
Hopes that the above information will be useful to you in the event that you need to install barricade tapes in your workplace/home, otherwise at least the next time you see some barrier tapes being installed, you have a good idea of what does the colours mean.
And, if you should have any further queries regarding the barrier tapes that we supplies, please feel free to send us an email at sales@unitech.com.sg
Of course, if you are thinking of installing some barricade tapes and would want everyone to immediately know that the area is out of bounds, you may also consider getting our barricade tapes with wordings instead.
Barricade tape is brightly colored tape (often incorporating a two-tone pattern of alternating yellow-black or red-white stripes or the words "Caution" or "Danger" in prominent lettering) that is used to warn or catch the attention of passersby of an area or situation containing a possible hazard. It acts as a minor impediment to prevent accidental entrance to that area or situation and as a result enhances general safety. Barricade tape is also known as construction tape or barrier tape, or in reference to the safety hazard involved as caution tape, warning tape, danger tape or hazard tape. When used by police, the tape is named police tape.
The tape is often wrapped and affixed as a visual warning sign and demarcation, for instance against entering a dangerous area, such as an industrial or commercial building site, a roadworks construction site or the scene of an accident[1] or a crime (for crime scene preservation), or against handling inoperative machinery or appliances.
Description[edit]
Red-and-white warning tape marking off an unsafe route
Barricade tape is made with durable, resilient, tear-proof plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, or nylon. Different manufacturers offer different sizes and thicknesses of barricade tape. Barricade tape often has a bright background and pre-printed bold warning text. It is also possible to purchase plain barricade tape and write a custom message on it. However, care should be taken when using custom tape, as barricade tape designs may be required to comply with regulations, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and American National Standards Institute (ANSI) regulations (when used for purposes subject to regulation by these organizations) in the USA.
Barricade tape is used according to the color specifications set by OSHA and ANSI. Barricade tape may be use primarily as a safety precaution for various industries and procedures.
Foreground (tape) and background colours[edit]
The choice of colours of barricade tape depends on the contrast with its background, which in the case of the sky, can vary from black to white. To have a reasonable chance of being visible against most backgrounds, the tape needs a light colour (white or yellow) and a darker colour.
Requirements for barricade tape[edit]
The seven OSHA color combinations for barricade tape.
Requirements for barricade tape vary according to the health and safety laws of the country or region it is being used in.
United States[edit]
OSHA and ANSI provide precise specification for barricade tape colors. These are found in OSHA regulations 1910.22[2] and 1910.144[3][failed verification] and ANSI Z535.5-2007, Safety Tags and Barricade Tapes (for Temporary Hazards). However, the dimension, thickness, and materials of the barricade tape are left to the discretion of the manufacturer.
OSHA-specified barricade tape colors[edit]
- Red / white for Fire Prevention and Protection Equipment.
- Black / white for Housekeeping and Aisle Marking
- Magenta / yellow for Radiation Hazards
- Green / white for Safety and First Aid
- Blue / white for Defective Machinery
- Orange / white for Traffic and Caution Warning
- Black / yellow for Physical Hazards
ANSI-specified barricade tape colors[edit]
- Yellow/Black Barricade Tape serves as CAUTION and POTENTIAL HAZARD from:
- Excavation less than 1.2 meters (4 feet) in depth
- Identification of trip hazards and low hanging objects
- Material storage on site
- Red Barrication Tape indicates DANGER and SERIOUS HAZARD from:
- Overhead work
- Live electrical components
- Scaffold under construction
- Around swing radius of equipment with a rotating superstructure
- Magenta (Purple)/Yellow Tape denotes DANGER and POSSIBLE RADIATION EXPOSURE
- Underground warning tape (custom) warns about:
- Digging underground gas-pipeline, electric cable and OFC cable installation
- Custom thickness and width are available
- Underground work
- Protection from overground work
United Kingdom[edit]
Red and white tape (top) or yellow and black tape (bottom) can both be used to mark hazards under UK health and safety regulations
Health and safety regulations state that markings should be placed around obstacles or dangerous locations. This includes where any of the following present a risk:
- people tripping or falling
- objects falling
- people or vehicles colliding with objects
These markings should be made up of alternating red and white or yellow and black stripes of equal size at a 45 degree angle. Barricade tape can be used to satisfy this requirement as long as the tape is "commensurate with the scale of the obstacle or dangerous location in question".[4]