Floor marking tapes are adhesive tapes used to mark hazards, divide spaces, create aisles, or provide directions. They are commonly used in industrial and manufacturing facilities for floor marking. They are made of multiple different materials, including PVC and

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

, and vary in thickness from 5-mils to 55-mils for a wide range of durability options for manufacturing facility floor marking. The best floor marking tapes are usually 50 to 60 mils thick. Most tapes come in a variety of color options and even hazard patterns to meet U.S.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration'' (OSHA ) is a large regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. Congress established the agenc ...

ANSI The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

requirements and other safety standards. Some tapes are made with higher reflectivity and may even glow in the dark. Floor marking tapes can also be useful for helping workers put materials and equipment back in the right place, making it a key 5S, Lean manufacturing implementation tools. Creating distinctions between finished goods, raw goods, to-be-repaired goods, and equipment ensures mistakes are minimized and productivity and safety are both at the highest levels. Industrial Grade floor tapes have been highlighted by Mr. Wonderful from Shark Tank to help increase safety awareness in facilities. https://www.kron4.com/business/press-releases/ein-presswire/607213580/mighty-line-takes-industrial-floor-signs-to-the-next-level/

Usage

5S and Lean manufacturing

Floor markings are an important part of step 2 of 5S, Set In Order (Seiton), organizing workspaces by denoting walkways, work spaces and storage spaces. In addition, floor markings are used to denote requirements to keep the area in front of

fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

fire hose A fire hose (or firehose) is a high-pressure hose that carries water or other fire retardant (such as foam) to a fire to extinguish it. Outdoors, it attaches either to a fire engine, fire hydrant, or a portable fire pump. Indoors, it can perm ...

first aid First aid is the first and immediate assistance given to any person with either a minor or serious illness or injury, with care provided to preserve life, prevent the condition from worsening, or to promote recovery. It includes initial in ...

equipment and exits clear. Hiroyuki Hirano's ''5 Pillar of the Visual Workplace'', proposed a scheme for markings that used not only color, but the size of the line and if the line was solid or broken, to convey meaning, expanding the possible messages that could be communicate, with only three colors.

Building evacuation

Starting in 2009, the International Fire Code required structures over to have exit paths and stairway steps marked by a luminous path to guide people evacuating to the exit. A way of satisfying this requirement is

photoluminescent Photoluminescence (abbreviated as PL) is light emission from any form of matter after the absorption of photons (electromagnetic radiation). It is one of many forms of luminescence (light emission) and is initiated by photoexcitation (i.e. photo ...

tape, which glows in darkness without any external power source. The IFC also requires that obstacles that are within of the floor surface be marked with luminescent striped tape, with an alternating striped pattern of luminous material and non-luminous black.

OSHA regulations

OSHA does not have a specific standard for floor marking. However other rules and policy interpretations has provided some guidelines. 1910.175(a) requires when mechanical handling equipment, such as forklifts and

Powered industrial truck In legal terms of the United States, a powered industrial truck (PIT) is a specialized motor vehicle (truck) defined in several standards: ANSI B56.1-1969 (PIT is a “mobile, power propelled truck used to carry, push, pull, lift, stack, or tier m ...

s are used, that permeant aisles and passageways must be marked. In 1972, OSHA clarified that it considers 'appropriately marked' to mean a line at least wide, with the recommendation being a line between wide. The agency also indicated that any color could be used and that the line could be continuous or formed by a series of dots, squares, stripes, as long as it was clear it defined an aisle area.

Materials

Tape

Tapes are replacement for paints for floor marking. Tapes are much faster and easier to install and replace, which dramatically reduces down times related to painting aisles and rails. Many floor tapes are scuff and break resistant, unlike paints that will chip and scratch off. Tapes that are printed with

stripes Stripe, striped, or stripes may refer to: Decorations *Stripe (pattern), a line or band that differs in colour or tone from an adjacent surface *Racing stripe, a vehicle decoration *Service stripe, a decoration of the U.S. military Entertainment ...

chevrons Chevron (often relating to V-shaped patterns) may refer to: Science and technology * Chevron (aerospace), sawtooth patterns on some jet engines * Chevron (anatomy), a bone * '' Eulithis testata'', a moth * Chevron (geology), a fold in rock l ...

and

Sillitoe tartan Sillitoe tartan is the nickname given to the distinctive black and white chequered pattern, correctly known as ''dicing'', which was originally associated with the police in Scotland. It later gained widespread use in the rest of the United Ki ...

patterns are far easier and faster to install than the same patterns when painted. Floor tapes also have a storage advantage, with being less temperamental, with longer shelf lives than paints. However, tape does have drawbacks. It can tear, peel and fail to adhere to some floor surfaces. Further, tape can introduce a trip hazard if it is peeling.

References

{{reflist, refs= Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor
29 CFR
§ 1910.22 General requirements. (2011). {{cite web , last1=Occupational Safety and Health Administration , title=Standard Interpretations (Archived) - Marking and width requirements for aisles in industrial operations. , url=https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/1972-05-15 , website=osha.gov , date=15 May 1972 {{cite web , last1=International Code Council , title=International Fire Code - 2009 , url=https://archive.org/details/gov.law.icc.ifc.2009 , publisher=International Code Council , accessdate=15 November 2019 , language=English , format=PDF , date=2009, pages=144–145 {{cite web , last1=International Code Council , title=2021 International Fire Code (IFC) , url=https://codes.iccsafe.org/content/IFC2015/chapter-10-means-of-egress#IFC2015_Pt03_Ch10_Sec1025 , website=codes.iccsafe.org , access-date=27 March 2022 , quote=Section 1025 - Luminous Egress Path Markings {{cite book , last1=Hirano , first1=Hiroyuki , title=5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace: The Sourcebook for 5S Implementation , date=1995 , publisher=Productivity Press , location=Portland, Oregon , isbn=1-56327-047-1 , page
96 - 104
, edition=First , language=English , chapter=6 - The Second Pillar: Orderliness , chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/5pillarsofvisual00hira/page/96 Adhesive tape Signage Occupational safety and health