Aisle Marking Tape Improves Safety

Keeping up on your workplace’s safety and organization should be at the top of your priorities. It’s not an easy task, especially if you have a large organization. Staying up on the latest trends and gadgets is great, but can be expensive if you’re constantly chasing the latest and greatest. One method that has been proven itself over and over again is the use of aisle marking tape to mark your floors and organize your facility.

Aisle marking tape has proven to be one of the most efficient and cost effective ways to improve your workplace. For years, aisle marking tape was thought of as an afterthought, but as more organizations have caught on, the benefits have been adding up.

Benefits of using aisle marking tape:

• Clearly marked aisles make it clear where people are supposed to go. There’s no more questioning what’s off limits and where it’s safe to walk.
• Hazard areas are clearly marked and defined. Using hazard striped tape to mark off hazard areas creates immediate awareness to the situation, that even a first time visitor would recognize and avoid.
• Stay clutter free. Marking off your traffic lanes and hazard areas creates a designated area which is off limits to clutter. This creates safe zones that are hazard free and clear of debris.
• Separate pedestrians from motorized traffic. In workplaces that have a mix of pedestrian and traffic, like forklifts, it is crucial that you clearly define what lanes are safe for each to travel in. This can avoid a costly, and potentially deadly, accident.

There really is no limits to what you can do with aisle marking tape. Each organization is unique and has their own way of doing things. You can use aisle marking tape to improve many sections of your facility with little limitations.

OSHA has come up with a color codes to help create a universal language for aisle marking tape. It is not mandatory that you use these colors for your facility, but it is recommended. The colors and usage for aisle marking tape are as follows:

• Yellow- For marking aisleways, pathways and any general area of traffic flow. Could be used for forklift, foot, or vehicle traffic paths. You can also use yellow aisle marking tape to indicate areas where caution is required.
• White- Use to mark general purpose areas such as equipment and storage locations.
• Red- Generally used to mark fire fighting equipment, hazards, or for marking red tag areas in facilities that use the Lean process known as 5S. However, it is important to note that if you use red aisle marking tape to mark hazards in your facility, you should not use it for anything else, like red tag areas for example.
• Orange- Used for organizational purposes. Often to indicate where it is safe to put materials that need to be held for inspection.

Whether you choose to follow OSHA’s guidelines for aisle marking tape or not is up to you. More importantly, you need to establish a color coding scheme that works for your culture and standardize it so that it becomes the way things are done and there’s no confusion…ever!

Ideas for aisle marking tape

Here are some basic ideas to get your aisle marking tape implementation going:

• Pallet/pallet jack locations
• Forklift parking
• Trashcans
• Tool boxes
• Machines
• Vehicle parking
• Bins
• Traffic lanes
• Hazard areas

Aisle marking tape vs. paint

Another key to using aisle marking tape, is that it is much more durable and less expensive than paint. Paint requires costly downtime, whereas aisle marking tape is a simple installation and is immediately ready for traffic, once its been properly applied. You also don’t need to buy any special equipment to install the tape like you would with paint. The ultimate benefit is it’s durability. Aisle marking tape has built in protection that keeps it looking new last for years, unlike paint which usually begins to fade and chip after a short period of time.

 You can combine your aisle marking tape with floor signs to create the ultimate visual workplace. A complete visual workplace as and endless amount of benefits, including increase productivity and safety. With visuals like aisle marking tape and floor signs, you no longer have to worry about confusing messages or if employees are following certain guidelines. Everything is in front of them and in a universal language that everyone understands.

What are you waiting for?

Installing aisle marking tape is not a serious dip into the budget, but it is a serious step towards improving the overall safety of your facility. It’s not a lengthy process to install and it’s available in just about any color, size and shape you need. It’s time to take the initiative and take your facility to the next level of safety and organization with aisle marking tape… today!

Additional Resources

• Aisle Marking Tape – 5 Strongest Tapes You have Ever Seen!– creativesafetysupply.com
• Safety Floor Tape– floor-tape.com
• 5s your area with Aisle Marking Tape– aislemarking.com
• Beginner’s Guide to Installing Aisle Marking Tape– blog.creativesafetysupply.com
• Floor Tape Applications– floortape101.com
• Aisle Tape Usage For A Better Working Environment– lean-news.com
• Warehouse Floor Marking Tape– blog.5stoday.com
• Using Floor Tape for Facility Safety– facilityfloormarking.com
• Traffic Management in the Warehouse– safetyblognews.com