As we take in the huge amounts of information around us, different colours take on various meanings. They work as a kind of code. For example, everyone knows without thinking about it that red means “stop” and green means “go” at a traffic light. Seeing the colour is much quicker than reading or hearing the word. Similarly, certain colours become associated with certain products. When you go out to buy a can of drink, you probably do not have to read the label. You simply look for a certain combination of colours on the can.
A color code is a system for displaying information by using different colors. The earliest examples of color codes in use are for long distance communication by use of flags, as in semaphore communication. The United Kingdom adopted a color code scheme for such communication wherein red signified danger and white signified safety, with other colors having similar assignments of meaning.
As chemistry and other technologies advanced, it became expedient to use coloration as a signal for telling apart things that would otherwise be confusingly similar, such as wiring in electrical and electronic devices, and pharmaceutical pills.
The use of color codes has been extended to abstractions, such as the Homeland Security Advisory System color code in the United States. Similarly, hospital emergency codes often incorporate colors (such as the widely used “Code Blue” indicating a cardiac arrest), although they may also include numbers, and may not conform to a uniform standard.
Color codes do present some potential problems. On forms and signage, the use of color can distract from black and white text. They are often difficult for color blind and blind people to interpret, and even for those with normal color vision, use many colors to code many variables can lead to use of confusingly similar colors.
The use of colour-coded products for cleaning healthcare facilities has been around for years. However, although the concept of colour coding cleaning products has been widely used in many healthcare environments, such as care homes for instance, there still isn’t a universal code. However, many hospitals, care homes, and other healthcare facilities have called for one, to make cleaning safer and to lower the risk of infection being spread.
In the UK, the British Institute of Cleaning Science developed a “universal” code for cleaning in the late 1990’s. The code it developed supported the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA’s) National Colour Coding System that relied on four core colours – red, blue, green, and yellow. It was suggested that red should be used for products or materials used for bathrooms, washrooms, showers, toilets, basins and bathroom floors. It was recommended that blue was used for general areas including wards, departments, offices and basins in public areas, and that green was used for catering departments, ward kitchen areas and patient food service at ward level. While yellow was suggested to be used for isolation areas. The NPSA recommended that all NHS facilities adopt this code as a standard code of practice. It has since been recommended that all healthcare facilities, from doctor’s surgeries to nursing homes, do the same.
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