Group, Years ago, I learned why the protective earth conductor needs to be green/yellow. It is because many color-blind people cannot tell the difference between brown (the color of the unearthed live conductor in Europe) and green (the standard color for a protective earth conductor).
How did I learn? My son, when he was young, picked up a brown crayon and said that it was "green, like the grass." OK, this might have been an insult towards my lawn in the summertime, but then one day, he came home from school and for St. Patrick's Day, he drew brown shamrocks (for those outside the US and Ireland who might not know, they should be green). We had his eyes checked, with those pictures of the numbers inside the colored background, and yes, he has one of the most common forms of color-blindness. More research at the time lead me to understand that approx. 7.5 % of males and 0.5 % of females suffer from what is called "green-blindness." Therefore, approx.. 7.5% of male and 0.5 % of female European electricians may have this condition of not being able to distinguish between the unearthed live conductor and the protective earth. That, you can understand, can be a problem! Also, I recall being referred to other standards from IEC 60950, namely IEC 60073, which concern color. That one for instance notes, "Where persons with defective colour vision can be employed as operators, it is recommended that colour shall not be the sole means of coding." Best regards, DON GIES ALCATEL-LUCENT SENIOR PRODUCT COMPLIANCE ENGINEER BELL LABS - GLOBAL PRODUCT COMPLIANCE LABORATORY 600-700 Mountain Avenue Room 5B-104 Murray Hill, NJ 07974-0636 USA Phone: +1 908 582 5978 Fax: +1 908 582 0582 <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] MEMBER, ALCATEL-LUCENT TECHNICAL ACADEMY -----Original Message----- From: Ted Eckert [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 2:27 PM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Color of Mains Wiring I believe that Switzerland used to use yellow for protective earth/ground, but that was long ago. Off hand, I am unaware of any other country in Europe that used yellow. Ted Eckert Compliance Engineer Microsoft Corporation <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] The opinions expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my employer. -----Original Message----- From: John Woodgate <mailto:[mailto:[email protected]]> [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 8:00 AM To: <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] Subject: Re: Color of Mains Wiring In message <B0B504B7ED1344D88A86CFCB49076283@Pete97219Compaq>, dated Sun, 8 Apr 2012, Pete Perkins < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> writes: > in Europe the ground was >yellow. In which country? I have never heard of yellow being used in Europe. Black, brown, green and even red, but not yellow. -- OOO - Own Opinions Only. Try <http://www.jmwa.demon.co.uk> www.jmwa.demon.co.uk and <http://www.isce.org.uk> www.isce.org.uk John Woodgate, J M Woodgate and Associates, Rayleigh, Essex UK If 'QWERTY' is an English keyboard, what language is 'WYSIWYG' for? - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at: <http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html> http://www.ieee-pses.org/emc-pstc.html Attachments are not permitted but the IEEE PSES Online Communities site at <http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/> http://product-compliance.oc.ieee.org/ can be used for graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. Website: <http://www.ieee-pses.org/> http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: <http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html> http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: <http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html> http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> Mike Cantwell < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher: < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> David Heald: < <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected]> - ---------------------------------------------------------------- This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. 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