- Author
- Collins, B. L. | Kuo, B. Y. | Mayerson, S. E. | Worthey, J. A. | Howett, G. L.
- Title
- Safety Color Appearance under Selected Light Sources.
- Coporate
- National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
- Sponsor
- U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, DC
- Report
- NBSIR 86-3493, January 1987, 140 p.
- Distribution
- Available from National Technical Information Service
- Keywords
- colors; illumination; safety; fluorescent lamps; mercury lamps; incandescent lamps; sodium lamps; specifications; chromaticity coordinates; luminance
- Identifiers
- ansi standard safety colors
- Abstract
- The present report provides data on the color appearance and physical measurements of 58 safety color samples viewed under each of seven light sources. The seven light sources included incandescent, cool white fluorescent, clear mercury, metal halide, metal halide-high pressure sodium mix, high pressure sodium, and low pressure sodium. Color samples included ones for safety red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple (magenta), brown, white, gray, and black of several different types including ordinary, fluorescent, retroreflective, and retroreflective fluorescent. Analysis of the data indicated that the standard ANSI (American National Standards Institute) samples were often not identified accurately under many of the sources studied, with particularly poor performance for the two sodium sources and clear mercury. Specifications are given for a new set of samples that were identified more accurately under all seven sources and which showed a greater gamut of coloration in a uniform color space for all sources. Chromaticity and luminance coordinates for all 58 color samples are presented for both CIE x,y,Y and CIE L*a*b* values. In addition, the psychophysical data are compared with the CIELAB data.