All new fire extinguishers are required to be red to meet BS-EN 3: 1997.

A one page article to assist in clarifying the current position with relation to the colours of fire extinguishers in the workplace.

Portable Fire Extinguisher Identification

BS EN3 – 5 1996 Portable Fire Extinguishers Specification and

Supplementary Test

Section 7 Extinguisher identification

7.1 Colour

Subject to national regulations, the colour of the body shall be red, but in

addition to the marking, a zone of colour of area up to 5% of the external area

of the body may be used to identify the extinguishing agent in accordance

with national specifications.

BS 7863 1996 Recommendations for colour coding to indicate the

extinguishing media contained in portable fire extinguishers.

4 Colours for extinguishers

The red colour of the body of the extinguisher should be signal red (BS381C

ref 537 or RAL 3000)

The colouring coding used to denote the extinguishing medium should be as

given in Table 1.

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