Our worksite has some piping in areas that are difficult to access. If everyone knows what is in them, do we need to label them?
QUESTION: Our worksite has some piping in areas that are difficult to access. If everyone knows what's in those pipes is it necessary to label them?
ANSWER: Yes, absolutely. Piping systems carry various types of contents, and may contain hazardous contents. ANSI/ASME A13.1 standard requires that all pipes be properly labeled to ensure workers are informed about potential hazards. Even if a pipe is located in an area that is difficult to access, standards require proper labeling. Facilities may contain miles of piping in complex systems. Pipe contents of piping systems may vary greatly, and may include domestic water, cooling water, waste water, compressed air, natural gas, or toxic and corrosive fluids, flammable fluids, or fire-quenching fluids. Even if you are confident that everyone is familiar with pipe contents, mistakes do happen, so pipe marking is a smart idea and is required under ANSI/ASME A13.1.
It would be a dangerous practice to ever make assumptions about piping systems. Making a mistake could result in costly downtime, a dangerous accident, or even a fatality. For this reason, all piping needs the proper pipe marking, which should include identification of the pipe contents, the flow direction of the contents within the pipe, information about any potential hazards, and any temperature or pressure requirements. The pipe marking labels must be correctly color-coded, and then placed where they will be easily seen, even in difficult to access locations. Piping systems should be inspected regularly, and pipemarking labels should be replaced if they are outdated, deteriorating, damaged or missing.
When labels need to be replaced in difficult to access areas, it is important to use high-quality, durable, long lasting labeling products to avoid frequent label replacement due to inferior labels. When you need quality pipemarking labels, you need Industrial Safety Solutions! Industrial Safety Solutions understands that cheap labeling supplies aren't durable. Instead ISS has worked to develop supplies that are designed to be long lasting, in a variety of conditions. ISS has the best labeling supplies on the market. Don't believe it? Call for samples, then compare them to the rest and see for yourself! Industrial Safety Solutions is so confident in the quality of their supplies that they make it easy for you to request free samples right from their website. Try that with the competition! When you want quality, call Industrial Safety Solutions, your pipe marking label solution!
Tags: OSHA pipe labeling, pipe labeling requirements, worksite pipe labeling
