BS 1710 - The British Way of Marking Pipes

BS 1710 stands for British Standard 1710. This is a framework legislated in 1984 that specifies how pipelines, ducting and electrical conduits should be labelled. The labels and tapes provide a visual identifier to warn of the risks and dangers of the release of pipeline contents and to prevent accidents and injuries from any such release. 

Content Information Code Indicators

Pipe contents must be easily identifiable and labelled with at least one of the following methods, in line with the British Standard 1710 pipe marking code:

• The full name of the content
• Its common abbreviated name
• The chemical symbol
• The appropriate designated colour bands
• Its British Standard 4580 number

Any text or symbols (code indicators) must be printed either in black or white, depending on which shows up more clearly on the assigned label colour for the pipe content.

Direction of Flow

As well as having a content label, each pipe should be labelled with the direction of the content’s flow. This should be on or near the identification colour label.

As with the text, this arrow should be black or white depending on which provides the better contrast against the liquid or gas pipe colour identification.

BASIC IDENTIFICATION COLOURS

BS 1710 gives specific guidelines on the colours of pipeline labelling. Pipelines may be labelled with multiple colours in specific patterns, or they may be labelled with a single colour known as the 'basic identification colour'.

Although there are dozens of different categories of pipeline contents, there are distinct categories of conduits that share the same basic identification colour. The main typical categories for these, and their assigned identification colours, are as follows in the pipe colour coding chart (UK) below.

BS 1710 Colour Chart

You can see what each one looks like in practice, below.

WATER MARKING

WATER PIPELINE TAPE

DRINKING WATER FLOW LABEL

WATER FLOW TAPE

The dark laurel identification colour is used for pipes that contain water of any use. This includes, amongst others, drink water, boiler water, central heating water and fire extinguishing water. 

BS Colour: 12 D 45
HEX Colour: #6A6C3C
RGB Colour: 106; 108; 60

OIL & FUEL MARKING

OIL PIPELINE TAPE

OIL FLOW LABEL

The saddle brown brown colour is used to indicate the presence of oils or fuel, such as diesel, lubricating oil, and hydraulic power oil.

BS Colour: 06 C 39
HEX Colour: #72503B
RGB Colour: 114; 80; 59

GAS & REFRIGERANTS