Letter to All Interested Parties
NOTE: This page is archived for historical purposes and is no longer being maintained or updated.
Issue Date: January 17, 2008
From:Jonathan V. Szalajda, Chief, Policy and Standards Development Branch
National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory
Subject: Colors for Respirator Element Labeling
The color coding requirements of labels for canisters and cartridges as a means for secondary identification are referenced in paragraphs 84.113 and 84.193 of 42 CFR 84, respectively. The standard incorporated by reference is ANSI K-13.1 - 1973: American National Standard for identification of air-purifying respirator canisters and cartridges. It has been communicated to NIOSH that standard samples of colors specified for respirator labeling are not available. This letter includes information for the colors specified in 42 CFR 84 relevant to accessing reference colors. Equivalent designations for these colors in several color-defining systems are provided in Tables 1 and 3, as an attachment. Acceptable tolerances for each specified color are also provided in Table 2, as an attachment. Some resources for obtaining standards, reference colors and translation into other color systems are available in the additional notes. Any questions concerning this letter should be directed to the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory, Policy and Standards Development Branch at 412-386-5200.
Table 1 - Colors Specified for Secondary Designation of Air-Purifying Elements (a)
| ISCC-NBS colors assigned in ANSI K13.1 | Munsell Notationsassigned in ANSI/AIHA Z88.7-2001 |
Equivalent designations for centroid color in other color systems |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Color Assigned | Centroid Color Name |
Centroid Color Number |
Nearest PANTONE® Color (b=) |
CIE (c) |
RGB (d) |
|||||
Y |
x |
y |
R |
G |
B |
|||||
| Red | Vivid red |
11 |
5R 4/14 |
200 C |
11.70 | 0.5711 | 0.3057 | 188 | 25 | 55 |
| Orange | Vivid orange |
48 |
5YR 7/14 |
1375 C |
41.99 | 0.5252 | 0.4168 | 255 | 144 | 17 |
| Brown | Deep yellowish brown |
75 |
10YR 3/6 |
1405 C |
6.391 | 0.4842 | 0.4712 | 94 | 67 | 0 |
| Yellow | Vivid yellow |
82 |
2.5Y 8/14 |
116 C |
57.62 | 0.4842 | 0.4712 | 255 | 189 | 0 |
| Olive | Light olive |
106 |
7.5Y 5/6 |
105 C |
19.27 | 0.4199 | 0.4551 | 138 | 121 | 45 |
| Green | Vivid green |
139 |
2.5G 5/10 |
356 C |
19.27 | 0.2565 | 0.4705 | 0 | 140 | 82 |
| Blue | Strong blue |
178 |
2.5PB 4/10 |
301 C |
11.70 | 0.1805 | 0.1888 | 0 | 101 | 170 |
| Purple (e) | Strong purple |
218 |
7.5P 4/8 |
259 C |
11.70 | 0.3066 | 0.2228 | 129 | 77 | 136 |
| White | White |
263 |
N 9.5/ |
Cool Gray 1C |
87.8 | 0.3100 | 0.3150 | 247 | 238 | 252 |
| Gray | Medium gray |
265 |
N 5.5/ |
423 C |
23.95 | 0.3100 | 0.3150 | 138 | 133 | 141 |
| Black | Black |
267 |
N 0.75/ |
Black C |
0.86 | 0.3100 | 0.3150 | 24 | 23 | 25 |
(a) Refer to ANSI K13.1-1973 and ANSI Z88.7-2001 for specific designations
(b) Values were obtained through “ask a question” at http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/index.aspx. CIE equivalents for CIE illuminant D50 were also provided and are included in Table 3.
(c) Obtained from ASTM D 1535-07 Table 2 for Munsell Notations in column 4. Another source is http://www.cis.rit.edu/mcsl/online/munsell_data/all.dat. Values are for CIE illuminant C-2º.
(d) sRGB, scaled to 255, estimates obtained from calculator available at www.easyrgb.com using CIE values in this table.
(e) 42 CFR 84.179 (b) (3) states the color, magenta, which is considered equivalent to purple e.g. NIOSH TB Respiratory Protection Program in Health Care Facilities, DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 99-143 p. 52.
Table 2 - Ranges for Colors specified in ANSI K 13.1—1973
ISCC-NBS colors with ranges in Munsell Notation |
||||
Centroid Color Number |
Centroid Munsell Notation (a) | Range (b) |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hue |
Value |
Chroma |
||
11 |
5R 3.9 /15.4 |
1-7R
“
7R-9R
“ |
≤ 3.5
3.5 (c) 5.5
5.5 (c) 6.5
≤ 3.5
3.5 (c) 4.5 |
≥ 11
≥ 13
≥ 15
≥ 11
≥ 13 |
48 |
4.1YR 6.5 /15 |
2-7YR |
≥ 4.5 |
≥ 14 |
75 |
8.8YR 3.1 /5 |
8YR-1Y |
≤ 3.5 |
≥ 5 |
82 |
3.3Y 8 /14.3 |
1-7Y |
≥ 5.5 |
≥ 11 |
106 |
8.2Y 5.1 /5.6 |
4-7Y
7Y-9Y
“
9Y-2GY
“ |
4.5-5.5
4.5-5.5
5.5 (c) 6.5
4.5-5.5
5.5 (c) 6.5 |
≥ 3
≥ 3
3-5
≥ 3
3-5 |
139 |
3.2G 4.9 /11.1 |
3-9G |
1.2-8.6 |
≥ 11 |
178 |
2.9PB 4.1 /10.4 |
9B-5PB
5-7PB |
3-5.5 |
9.-13 |
218 |
6.5P 4.3 /9.2 |
3-9P |
3.5-5.5 |
9.-13 |
263 |
2.5PB 9.5 /0.2 |
all |
≥ 8.5 |
0.5 |
265 |
3.3GY 5.4 /0.1 |
all |
4.5-6.5 |
≤ 0.5 |
267 |
2.5PB 0.8 /0 |
all |
≤ 2.5 |
≤ 0.5 |
(a) Values were obtained from http://www.anthus.com/Colors/Cent.html.
(b) Ranges were taken from charts in Chapter 13, Color: Universal Language and Dictionary of Names, by K. L. Kelly and D. B. Judd. National Bureau of Standards, Spec. Publ. 440, Dec. 1976.
(c) Indicates boundary not included in range: i.e. 3.5 < value ≤ 5.5.
Table 3 - CIE Equivalents for Pantone® Colors given in Table 1
Nearest PANTONE® Color |
CIE |
||
|---|---|---|---|
Y D50 |
X D50 |
Y D50 |
|
200 C |
12.36 |
0.5985 |
0.3179 |
1375 C |
44.12 |
0.5387 |
0.4198 |
1405 C |
6.69 |
0.5039 |
0.4384 |
116 C |
60.36 |
0.4957 |
0.4705 |
105 C |
20.09 |
0.4405 |
0.4680 |
356 C |
19.84 |
0.2785 |
0.5107 |
301 C |
11.51 |
0.1988 |
0.2347 |
259 C |
11.87 |
0.3500 |
0.2623 |
Cool Gray 1C |
87.80 |
0.3457 |
0.3585 |
423 C |
23.98 |
0.3457 |
0.3585 |
Black C |
0.86 |
0.3457 |
0.3585 |
