Free template
Floor marking color guide
A floor marking color guide is a site's written standard for what each floor color and mark means: which color outlines an aisle, which marks a hold area, which stripes keep a zone clear. Floor marking is part of set in order in 5S and of visual management: it shows where things belong and where people and trucks go, so anything out of place is obvious. The meanings only work if they are the same in every area. Page 1 of this template lists a common scheme with swatches (yellow for aisles and work cells, white for equipment and fixtures, blue, green or black for materials, orange for material on hold for inspection, red for defects and scrap, and red and white, black and white, and black and yellow stripes), with columns for the line width and where you use each, space for your own colors, and a table of marks such as outlines, corner marks and arrows. It notes what OSHA does and does not set. Page 2 is a floor marking check with a layout sketch.
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
When to use it
When to use a floor marking color guide
- Before marking floors in a new area, so every area uses the same colors.
- When different areas of the plant have grown their own color meanings.
- As part of a 5S set in order step or a layout change.
- To check marked floors against the standard during a 5S audit or gemba walk.
How to fill it in
- 1
Agree the colors
Start from the common scheme on the sheet and change it to your site's own. What matters is that one color means one thing everywhere.
- 2
Set the widths and marks
Write the line width for each use and the marks you use: full outlines, corner marks, arrows, stand-here marks, floor labels.
- 3
Check your local rules
Make sure the scheme fits the safety rules where you work, and that it matches the colors on your signs.
- 4
Approve and post it
Have it approved and post it where people mark floors, with the tape or paint product to use.
- 5
Check the floors
Walk each area with page 2: lines worn or missing, locations with the wrong thing in them, keep-clear zones blocked.
- 6
Repair and repeat
Give each problem an owner and a date. Worn lines stop meaning anything, so plan for re-marking.
What's on the guide
The colors on the floor marking color guide
A common scheme, not a legal requirement. On the sheet each color has a swatch and columns for the line width and where you use it, with space for your own colors.
Solid colors
A common scheme; write your own site's
- 1Yellow: aisles, traffic lanes and work cell boundaries
- 2White: equipment and fixtures such as racks, carts, benches and machines
- 3Blue, green or black: materials and components, such as raw material, work in progress and finished goods
- 4Orange: material or product held for inspection
- 5Red: defects, scrap, rework and red tag areas
Striped
Areas to keep clear, and hazards
- 6Red and white stripes: keep clear for safety, such as in front of electrical panels, fire equipment and eyewash stations
- 7Black and white stripes: keep clear for operational reasons
- 8Black and yellow stripes: physical hazards to people, such as trip points and low clearance
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: bringing two assembly halls onto one standard (illustrative).
- Hall A used yellow for aisles and red for scrap; hall B used white for aisles and yellow for WIP.
- The site agreed yellow for aisles, white for equipment, green for WIP, orange for held material and red for scrap, with red and white stripes in front of electrical panels.
- The first floor check in hall B found 14 WIP locations outlined in yellow, two panels with pallets in front of them and worn aisle lines at a forklift crossing.
Hall B was re-marked over two weekends, the panel zones were striped, and the floor check went into the monthly 5S audit.
Common mistakes
Each area with its own colors
If yellow means an aisle in one hall and WIP in the next, people stop reading the floor. One standard for the site.
Marking before the layout is settled
Marking a layout that will change next month wastes tape and teaches people to ignore the lines.
Too many colors
A dozen colors nobody remembers mean less than five everyone knows.
Never re-marking
Worn lines stop meaning anything. Check them and plan the repairs.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
LeanSuite schedules 5S audits in Daily Standard Work, requires before-and-after photos, and turns a failed Set in Order line into a corrective action routed to the right lead.
In the lean glossary
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FAQ
Floor marking color guide: common questions
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A shift handover sheet, a red tag log, a changeover checklist for one machine: if your team uses it on the floor, ask.