Buildings, pipelines and other industrial equipment and infrastructure come in a variety of colours. Some are chosen to match brand tones. Others are meant to keep workers safe or support process continuity. So colour maintenance matters! Choose the easiest and most effective way to do it.
Some coloured painted surfaces are sensitive to corrosion or suffer from extreme temperatures or intense use, leading to fading colours or damaged patches. This can be a problem, as colours often provide information necessary for processing or site safety. Commonly used machinery and industrial vehicles often have brand-specific colours used around the globe.
Whatever the colour used, and whatever the purpose, all these surfaces will at some point need a touch-up. Explore these insights to make maintenance as easy as possible:
1. Choose a brand that allows easy maintenance
Paint maintenance is time-consuming but essential to keep your employees safe and keep your plant running. You would be surprised how many paint colours are used on an industrial site. Keeping every surface in good shape means you need to have the right touch-up colour to hand at all times, be it a common machine colour, a regulated safety or identification colour, or any brand-related colour.
Tip: Look for a brand that offers touch-up paint for every commonly used colour in industry off the shelf and can quickly produce any other customised colour to order.
2. Avoid stress about colour compliancy
Regulators have defined specific colour requirements to make industrial sites as safe as possible. The compulsory colours used on pipelines, containers and other parts of your infrastructure help to prevent incidents and injuries, as everyone speaks the same colour language. Some regulations are issued at an international level, e.g. the EU Directive 2014/27, while specific refinements can be made at a national level. The colour restrictions are strict, so being creative and picking your own tone of yellow or orange is out of the question.
Tip: Rely on a supplier that offers the exact colour tone you need to make your plant compliant.
3. Store colours properly to ensure a long life
Avoid having a large palette of colours in stock that risk going lumpy or drying out, or suffering from a clogged nozzle in the case of a spray can. Keep opened cans and sprays in a dry storage area, protected from sunlight and extreme temperatures (between 0° and 50° C). Stocks of more than 20 spray cans should be stored in a more enclosed space.
Tip: Keep paint cans tightly closed and clean the nozzles of spray cans before storing them to ensure the longest possible shelf life.
The quickest way to a colourful, fully compliant plant
Touching up painted surfaces on site might not be the most exciting part of maintenance, but it is critical and necessary to ensure you remain fully compliant. Planning your maintenance checks properly helps to make it more efficient. You can also make the job easier by using touch-up paint that is available in the right colour, in a compliant tone and of the best quality to last as long as possible. HARD HAT® Topcoat is a range of spray paints for maintenance of many metal or other surfaces, available in multiple colours and finishes. Easy, fast drying, durable.
