SOP for Color Coding of Pipelines EN-04

The SOP for color coding of pipelines is of utmost importance in the pharmaceutical industry due to several critical reasons. In a highly regulated and sensitive environment like pharmaceutical manufacturing, ensuring safety, efficiency, and accuracy are paramount.

Implementing a well-defined color coding system for pipelines offers numerous benefits:

• Prevention of Cross-Contamination: Pharmaceuticals often involve the use of various active ingredients, intermediates, and raw materials. Color coding helps prevent cross-contamination by clearly distinguishing between different product lines and avoiding mix-ups.
• Enhanced Safety: Pharmaceuticals may include hazardous chemicals and potent substances. Color coding allows personnel to quickly identify pipelines carrying dangerous materials, reducing the risk of accidental exposure or mishandling.
• Efficient Material Handling: By using distinct colors for different types of fluids and materials, operators can easily identify the intended destination for each pipeline, streamlining material transfer processes and minimizing errors.
• Rapid Emergency Response: In the event of a pipeline leakage, color coding aids emergency responders in identifying the nature of the substance and responding appropriately, ensuring quick containment and mitigation of potential hazards.
• Compliance with Regulations: Regulatory agencies often mandate color coding in pharmaceutical facilities. Adherence to these standards ensures compliance and a positive impression during inspections and audits.

• Minimization of Downtime: Properly labeled pipelines reduce the time required for maintenance, repairs, and cleaning. Maintenance teams can quickly locate the relevant pipelines, leading to minimal downtime and increased operational efficiency.
• Error Reduction: The use of colors simplifies the identification process for operators and technicians. This lowers the likelihood of mistakes in connecting pipelines or following the wrong sequence during production.
• Facilitation of Training and Onboarding: New personnel can quickly familiarize themselves with the facility’s layout and pipeline system through color coding. This expedites training and reduces the learning curve for new employees.
• Improved Communication: Color coding provides a universal visual language that transcends language barriers, making it easier for different teams and departments to communicate effectively.
• Organizational Efficiency: A standardized color coding system fosters an organized and structured environment, allowing for better planning, coordination, and optimization of processes within the pharmaceutical facility.

Standard Operating Procedure SOP for Color Coding of Pipelines

• OBJECTIVE:
  • To lay down the procedure for the color codification of utility pipelines, structures & operations.
• SCOPE:
  • This SOP is applicable to the color codification of pipelines.
• RESPONSIBILITY:
  • Engineering – Head or designee shall be responsible for reviewing the SOP and for ensuring proper execution.
  • QA Document In-charge or designee shall review the SOP for cGMP compliance and to meet quality system requirements.
  • Head – QA (or) designee shall be responsible for reviewing and approving the SOP and ensuring its compliance.
• ACCOUNTABILITY:
  • Engineering – Head shall be accountable for proper implementation of the SOP.
• DEFINITIONS:
  • Nil
• PROCEDURE:
  • The color codes for MS .pipelines are as given below:

COLOR CODING FOR MS PIPELINE
Sr. No.	Name	Ground Colour	First Band Colour	Second Band Colour	Arrow  Colour
1	Nitrogen	Golden Yellow	Black	————-	Bus Green
2	Vacuum	White	————-	————-	Yellow
3	Air	Sky Blue	————-	————-	Black
4	Raw Water	Cascade Green	White	————-	Bus Green
5	Soft Water	Cascade Green	Signal Red	————-	Bus Green
6	RO Reject Water	Cascade Green	Black	————-	Bus Green
7	Cooling Tower Water	Cascade Green	Oxford Blue	————-	Bus Green
8	Potable Water	Cascade Green	Sky Blue	————-	Bus Green
9	Diesel	Light Brown	———-	———–	Black
10	Steam/Condensate	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	P.O. Red
11	Chilled Water (+5°C)	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	Black
12	Chilled Brine (-15°C)	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	Oxford Blue
13	Hot Water	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	Orange
14	Fire Hydrant	Signal Red	———–	———–	Cascade Green
15	Guards	Signal Red	———–	———–	———–
16	ETP Treated Water	Cascade Green	Canary Yellow	Signal Red	———–
17	Oxygen	Canary Yellow	White	———–	———–
18	LPG	Canary Yellow	Oxide Red	White	———–
19	Boiler Feed Water	Cascade Green	Sky blue	——-	———–

The arrow colors for the different types of operations are as given below:

Sr. No.	Arrow colour	Type of operation
1	Red	Back wash
2	White	Rinsing
3	Yellow	System feed water
4	Grey	System feed sodium hydroxide
5	Black	Hydrochloride Acid regeneration
6	Blue	Air vent

The SOP for Color Coding of pipelines (Stainless Steel) are as given below:

COLOUR CODING FOR SS PIPE LINE
Sr.No.	Name	Ground Color	First Band Colour	Second Band Colour	Arrow
1	Nitrogen	————-	Golden Yellow	Black	bus Green
2	Vacuum	————-	White	————-	Yellow
3	Air	————-	Sky Blue	————-	Black
4	Raw Water	————-	Cascade Green	White	bus Green
5	Soft Water	————-	Cascade Green	Signal Red	bus Green
6	RO Reject Water	————-	Cascade Green	Black	bus Green
7	CT.Water	————-	Cascade Green	Oxford Blue	bus Green
8	Drinking Water	————-	Cascade Green	Cascade Green	bus Green
9	Methanol	————-	A.D.Gray	Deep Buff	Black
10	Steam/Condensate	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	P.O.Red
11	Chilled Water (+5°C)	Cascade Green	Aluminum	———–	Black
12	Chilled Brine (-15°C)	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	Oxford Blue
14	Hot Water	Aluminum	Cascade Green	———–	Orange
15	Purified Water	Aluminum	Sky Blue	———–	bus Green
16	WFI	———–	Violet	Cascade Green	bus Green

SOP for Color Coding of pipelines ie. Color Band sizes for different pipes are as given below:

Sr. No.	Pipe size	1st colour band (mm)	2nd colour band (mm)
1	½”	50	25
2	¾”	50	25
3	1	50	25
4	1 ½”	100	50
5	2”	100	50
6	2 ½ ”	100	50
7	3”	100	50
8	4”	150	100
9	5”	150	100
10	6”	150	100
11	8”	150	100
12	10”	150	100

• Ground Colour:
  • Ground Colour shall be applied throughout the entire length or as a color coating of adequate length (but in no case less than 300 mm) so that it is not mistaken for the color band.
  • Wherever the ground color is not applied throughout the entire length, it shall be applied near valves, junctions, joints, types of equipment, walls, etc.
  • When color bands are superimposed on the ground color, the ground color shall extend sufficiently on both sides of the color band to avoid confusion.

• Color Bands:
  • Color bands shall be superimposed on ground color at the following locations:
  • At intersection points and change of direction points in piping ways.
  • At the point of locations where the pipelines enter into the plant or out from the plant.
  • For long stretch pipings at a distance of every 6 meters span of pipelines.
  • At the first point and terminating point.
  • Color codes for all structures shall be smoke gray. 
  • Color code for Fresh, Spent, Distilled & Anhydrous solvents will be same.
  • The spent solvent will be identified by (S), Distilled solvent by (D) & Anhydrous solvent by (A) Marking. Respective marking will be given near the working areas
  • All the valves and piping parts are to be painted the same color as per the pipe background color.
• Toward the Flow & its Direction:
  • Arrows or lettering may be painted near valves, junctions, walls, and other locations to indicate flow direction.
• Lettering:
  • The recommended size of lettering for pipes of different diameters is as given below:

Outside Diameter of Pipe or Covering (mm)	Size of Legend (mm)
20 to 30	10
30 to 50	20
50 to 80	30
80 to 150	40
150 to 250	90

• Visibility of markings:
  • Attention shall be given to the visibility of color marking and letterings. Where the pipelines are located above the operator’s regular line of sight, the lettering must be placed below the horizontal line of the pipes.
  • To guarantee good visibility at night, the electrical illumination of plants should be so that the shades of colors are not changed. Wherever legends and color bands are indicated, they should be placed so that they are easily visible from the floor/ground level during the day, and supplementary lighting should be supplied over them at night or where visibility is low.
• ABBREVIATIONS
  • RO            :     Reverse Osmosis
  • CT             :     Cooling Water
  • SS              :     Stainless Steel
  • MS            :     Mild Steel
  • WFI           :     Water for Injection
  • LPG          :     Liquefied Petroleum Gas
• REFERENCES
  • BS 1710
  • IS 2379:1990
• DISTRIBUTION LIST
  • SOP shall be distributed to the following departments:
    • Quality Assurance
    • Engineering
    • Production
    • Warehouse
    • Microbiology
• ANNEXURES
  • Nil