How Floor Marking Tapes Protect Workers and Machinery

By: Maria Marnelli G. Medina

If you ever find yourself walking into a warehouse or industrial facility, look at the floor. What do you see? Do you notice strips of brightly colored lines all over these floors? These are called floor marking tapes, and these are not there to brighten up the place. The main purpose of these tapes is to actually help keep personnel safe while inside the facility.

Floor marking tapes are heavy-duty, self-adhesive strips used for lane marking, floor marking, skid and slip prevention and as hazard warnings. These bands of anti-skid colored tapes, usually made of PVC or vinyl, define areas in industrial facilities where people can walk and stay, where forklifts can pass, where machinery is supposed to be placed and many more.

There are different kinds of floor marking tapes for every marking need. There are tapes with cross markers, footprints, corners and dots. There are also floor markers that can be customized to fit your specific floor marking requirements.

Floor marking tapes come in different colors, with each one carrying a specific meaning or imparting a particular message to the user.

Floor Marking Tape Color Codes

• Red safety tape – cautions personnel of unsafe electronic equipment, electrical panels, or containers of flammable substances.
• Green marking tape – informs workers that safety equipment is nearby, such as fire extinguishers and eye wash stations.
• Yellow marking tape – delineates walkways or area divisions
• Orange marking tape – tells employees to exercise caution due to the presence of machinery parts or energized equipment
• White marking tape – alerts personnel of large objects like carts, benches and equipment that can be moved anytime
• Blue marking tape – shows which machinery needs repair, and warns workers not to operate these equipment

Benefits of Using Floor Marking Tapes

There are many advantages to using floor marking tapes as opposed to using paint to mark your floor with. Paint is a cheaper alternative, but it does not provide slip-resistance. Since paint has no anti-slip properties, workers are more prone to slips and slides, especially in environments where oil, water and grease are present.

Floor tapes help organize your workplace so that everything, and everyone, is in its proper place. These mark routes people and machinery can take, such as aisles and walkways, so that mishaps can be avoided. These tapes also identify dangerous areas and mark out the locations of safety equipment such as fire extinguishers, so workers will know which areas to avoid and which ones to go to when needed.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires that facilities have appropriate floor markings to prevent workplace accidents from happening. OSHA-compliant floor markings used properly in any facility show that the company does put worker safety and productivity on top of their list of priorities.

These tapes also help ensure the smooth and orderly flow of goods, tools, supplies, equipment, vehicles and employees in and out of the facility. An efficient and well-planned work layout for any building will mean safe working areas and protected employees and equipment.

Accidents and mistakes can cost companies a lot of money. They can also ruin businesses.  Employees need to have a work environment that is free from hazards. Employers have an obligation to provide them with a safe workplace and floor marking tapes help make that possible.