SOP for Color Coding of Pipelines

OBJECTIVE

To lay down the procedure for color-codifying utility pipelines, structures & operations.

SCOPE

This SOP applies to the color codification of pipelines.

RESPONSIBILITY

• Engineering – The head or designee shall be responsible for reviewing the SOP and for ensuring proper execution.
• QA Document In-charge or designee shall review the SOP for cGMP compliance and to meet quality system requirements.
• Head – QA (or) designee shall review and approve the SOP and ensure its compliance.

ACCOUNTABILITY

Engineering – The head shall be accountable for the proper implementation of the SOP.

PROCEDURE

The color codes for MS pipelines are as given below:

COLOR CODING FOR MS PIPELINE
Sr. No.	Name	Ground Colour	First Band Colour	Second Band Colour	Arrow Colour
1	Nitrogen	Golden Yellow	Black	--	Bus Green
2	Vacuum	White	--	--	Yellow
3	Air	Sky Blue	--	--	Black
4	Raw Water	Cascade Green	White	--	Bus Green
5	Soft Water	Cascade Green	Signal Red	--	Bus Green
6	RO Reject Water	Cascade Green	Black	--	Bus Green
7	Cooling Tower Water	Cascade Green	Oxford Blue	--	Bus Green
8	Potable Water	Cascade Green	Sky Blue	--	Bus Green
9	Diesel	Light Brown	———-	--	Black
10	Steam/Condensate	Aluminium	Cascade Green	--	P.O. Red
11	Chilled Water (+5°C)	Aluminium	Cascade Green	--	Black
12	Chilled Brine (-15°C)	Aluminium	Cascade Green	--	Oxford Blue
13	Hot Water	Aluminium	Cascade Green	--	Orange
14	Fire Hydrant	Signal Red	--	--	Cascade Green
15	Guards	Signal Red	--	--	--
16	ETP Treated Water	Cascade Green	Canary Yellow	Signal Red	--
17	Oxygen	Canary Yellow	White	--	--
18	LPG	Canary Yellow	Oxide Red	White	--
19	Boiler Feed Water	Cascade Green	Sky blue	--	--

The arrow colors for the different types of operations are as given below:

Sr. No.	Arrow colour	Type of operation
1	Red	Backwash
2	White	Rinsing
3	Yellow	System feed Water
4	Grey	System feed sodium hydroxide
5	Black	Hydrochloride Acid regeneration
6	Blue	Air vent

The SOP for Color Coding of pipelines (Stainless Steel) is as given below:

COLOUR CODING FOR SS PIPE LINE
Sr.No.	Name	Ground Color	First Band Colour	Second Band Colour	Arrow
1	Nitrogen	—	Golden Yellow	Black	Bus Green
2	Vacuum	—	White	—	Yellow
3	Air	—	Sky Blue	—	Black
4	Raw Water	—	Cascade Green	White	Bus Green
5	Soft Water	—	Cascade Green	Signal Red	Bus Green
6	RO Reject Water	—	Cascade Green	Black	Bus Green
7	CT. Water	—	Cascade Green	Oxford Blue	Bus Green
8	Drinking Water	—	Cascade Green	Cascade Green	Bus Green
9	Methanol	—	A.D.Gray	Deep Buff	Black
10	Steam/Condensate	Aluminium	Cascade Green	—	P.O.Red
11	Chilled Water (+5°C)	Cascade Green	Aluminium	—	Black
12	Chilled Brine (-15°C)	Aluminium	Cascade Green	—	Oxford Blue
14	Hot Water	Aluminium	Cascade Green	—	Orange
15	Purified Water	Aluminium	Sky Blue	—	Bus Green
16	WFI	—	Violet	Cascade Green	Bus Green

ALSO READ: SOP for Building Maintenance

SOP for Color Coding of pipelines ie. Color Band sizes for different pipes are as given below:

Sr. No.	Pipe size	1st color band (mm)	2nd color band (mm)
1	½”	50	25
2	¾”	50	25
3	1	50	25
4	1 ½”	100	50
5	2”	100	50
6	2 ½”	100	50
7	3”	100	50
8	4”	150	100
9	5”	150	100
10	6”	150	100
11	8”	150	100
12	10”	150	100

Ground Colour:

• Ground Colour shall be applied throughout the entire length or as a color coating of adequate size (but in no case less than 300 mm) so that it is not mistaken for the color band.
• Wherever the ground color is not applied throughout the entire length, it shall be applied near valves, junctions, joints, types of equipment, walls, etc.
• When color bands are superimposed on the ground color, the ground color shall extend sufficiently on both sides of the color band to avoid confusion.

Color Bands:

• Color bands shall be superimposed on ground color at the following locations:
• At intersection points and change of direction points in piping ways.
• At the point of locations where the pipelines enter into the plant or out from the plant.
• For long stretch pipings at a distance of every 6 meters span of pipelines.
• At the first point and terminating point.
• Color codes for all structures shall be smoke gray.
• Color code for Fresh, Spent, Distilled & Anhydrous solvents will be the same.
• The spent solvent will be identified by (S), Distilled solvent by (D) & Anhydrous solvent by (A) Marking. Respective marking will be given near the working areas
• All the valves and piping parts are to be painted the same color as per the pipe background color.

Toward the Flow & its Direction:

• Arrows or lettering may be painted near valves, junctions, walls, and other locations to indicate flow direction.

Lettering:

The recommended size of lettering for pipes of different diameters is as given below:

Outside Diameter of Pipe or Covering (mm)	Size of Legend (mm)
20 to 30	10
30 to 50	20
50 to 80	30
80 to 150	40
150 to 250	90

For steam, temperature and pressure shall be indicated after color indication, by lettering.

Visibility of Markings:

• Attention shall be given to the visibility of color marking and letterings. Where the pipelines are located above the operator’s regular line of sight, the lettering must be placed below the horizontal line of the pipes.
• To guarantee good visibility at night, the electrical illumination of plants should be so that the shades of colors are not changed. Wherever legends and color bands are indicated, they should be placed so that they are easily visible from the floor/ground level during the day, and supplementary lighting should be supplied over them at night or where visibility is low.

ABBREVIATIONS

RO: Reverse Osmosis

CT: Cooling Water

SS: Stainless Steel

MS: Mild Steel

WFI: Water for Injection

LPG: Liquefied Petroleum Gas

ANNEXURES

Nil

REVISION HISTORY

Nil

ALSO READ: SOP for Operation of Fire Extinguisher