BS EN 1089-3:2011 pdf download – Transportable gas cylinders — Gas cylinder identification (excluding LPG) Part 3: Colour coding
The property shall be classified in a descending order of hazard as follows:
6.2.2.2 For gases with a single danger:
a) toxic and/or corrosive (in accordance with ISO 10298 and ISO 13338) — yellow;
b) flammable (in accordance with EN ISO 10156) — red;
c) oxidizing (in accordance with EN ISO 10156) — light blue;
d) inert 1) — bright green.
The colour BRIGHT GREEN shall not be used for air for medical use or breathing application (see 6.2.5).
6.2.2.3 For gases with more than one danger:
When a gas or mixture has two hazard properties, then the cylinder shoulder shall be coloured in accordance with the primary hazard. The colour of the secondary hazard (flammable or oxidizing) may also be applied to the cylinder shoulder:
a) toxic (and/or corrosive) and flammable — yellow plus red;
b) toxic (and/or corrosive) and oxidizing — yellow plus light blue.
6.2.3 Specific single gases
6.2.3.1 The following gases shall be identified by specific colours rather than the colour system defined in 6.2.2.
a) Flammable gases:
Acetylene — Maroon.
b) Oxidizing gases:
Oxygen — White;
Nitrous oxide — Blue.
6.2.3.2 Inert gases for medical application shall be further differentiated by use of the following colours:
a) Argon — Dark green;
b) Nitrogen — Black;
c) Carbon dioxide — Grey;
d) Helium — Brown.
Specific colours of single gases described above are identical to ISO 32.
These colours may also be used for applications other than medical instead of the bright green colour (inert) as indicated in 6.2.2.
NOTE Inert gases for medical use are also differentiated from industrial use by the colouration of the gas cylinder body, white for medical use (see 6.3).
6.2.4 Mixtures of inert gases Instead of the hazard colour as indicated in 6.2.2, combinations of colours (maximum two, see Annex D) of the specific component gases listed in 6.2.3.2 may be used to identify the cylinder contents.
6.2.5 Oxygen mixtures and air for medical use and breathing application For medical use, the following gas mixtures containing at least 20 % oxygen shall be identified using the colour of the components listed in 6.2.3. These colours may also be used for breathing applications other than medical.
a) Air or synthetic air — white plus black;
b) Oxygen/helium — white plus brown;
c) Oxygen/carbon dioxide — white plus grey;
d) Oxygen/nitrous oxide — white plus blue.
If the gas mixture contains more than one other gas than oxygen, then 6.2.2 shall be applied.
All the above gas mixtures containing less than 20 % oxygen shall be coloured bright green.
NOTE A deviation from this requirement is possible for specific mixture use for deep diving, e.g. helium with minor percentage of oxygen.
These colours shall neither be used for industrial gas mixtures containing these components, nor also for breathing gases with less than 20 % oxygen which are life threatening to breathe.
6.2.6 Specific medical gas mixtures
In case of medical gas mixture for inhalation containing less 1 000 ppm(V/V) of NO (nitric oxide) in nitrogen a specific colour on the shoulder, Turkish blue, shall be used.
6.3 Body
All cylinders for gas for medical use shall be coloured white along the body of the cylinder. White colouration of the body shall not be used for any other applications.
7 Implementation
Cylinders colour coded in accordance with this European Standard shall have the letter “N” marked twice on the shoulder of the cylinder except if there is no risk of mis-interpretation. When “N” is used, these markings shall be positioned diametrically opposed and displayed in a colour distinct from the colours of the cylinder shoulder. The size and shape of “N” shall be as indicated in Annex C.
Colour 2, in configuration a), shall not be the same as the body colour of the cylinder. It is acceptable to transpose colour 1 and colour 2 to avoid this situation. Configurations b) or c) may also be used.
NOTE The size of the band does not indicate the quantity of the gas.
Quadrants (configuration c) should only be used for breathing air.