Why is cleaning equipment colour coded

Commercial colour coded cleaning is a simple and effective hygiene approach that more and more companies are using. The aim of commercial colour coded cleaning is to avoid cross-contamination between different work areas. In the BICSc system, every major work area has a designated colour code.

These are the colours that equipment is readily available in:. What colour should you use for which area? Nothing written in stone here and there are many variations used.

The old BICSc universal colour code is the most popular and this is the one we would recommend. It is.. In the NHS revised the colour coding that they use and they now use the same colour cloth for toilets and for hand wash basins in the toilet. Potentially you could end up using the same cloth for cleaning the toilets and the sinks, spreading the bateria from one to the other. There are, however, laws and regulations for healthcare establishment that must be followed to ensure patient care.

As businesses must now conform to the Environmental Health Officer EHO , the use of colour coded cleaning equipment is particularly useful and has been widely adopted by the catering industry, as well as offices, factories and the retail sector. Choosing to employ a colour system in your workplace can make cleaning easy, efficient and in turn, increase general hygiene and cleanliness. The use of colour coded cleaning equipment is so useful simply because it reduces cross-contamination which in turn reduces the risk of infection or in some extreme cases death.

Using a single mop to clean every floor in a restaurant, for example, can spread bacteria from the washrooms and toilets to kitchen and food preparation areas. This carries with it an inherent risk of cross-contamination and consequently, illness. Applying a colour coded system to segregate sensitive areas from one-another is the most efficient and effective way of reducing the risk of cross-contamination.

Whatever colour code you settle for, the most important thing is that your staff know exactly what colours are for which areas. The best way to achieve this is to provide in-depth training highlighting the importance of colour coded equipment. As a reminder, you should have clearly marked posters at eye level in the cleaning cupboard. You must clearly state what colours are used for what areas, for example, cleaning a washroom is confusing when it comes to segregation.

There is no legal requirement to use a colour coding system. COSHH holds you responsible for risk assessment and prevention or control of exposure to them in the work place. Colour coding your cleaning equipment is one of the ways in which you can do this. Here is the BISCs colour coded cleaning graphic which you can download and hand out to your cleaning operatives as well as display in the appropriate areas. Your email address will not be published.