What are the four cleaning colour codes?

Red for washrooms and toilets, blue for general lower risk areas such as offices and corridors, green for kitchens, food and bar areas, and yellow for clinical areas. That is the British Institute of Cleaning Science chart. Under the NHS scheme yellow is for isolation areas only.

Are the cleaning colour codes part of COSHH?

No. The COSHH Regulations 2002 do not mention colour coding. COSHH covers the chemicals; colour coding covers the cloths, mops and buckets, and exists to stop germs moving between areas. The two meet in practice, because the same staff training and the same cleaning cupboard cover both.

Is colour coded cleaning a legal requirement?

Not in general. BICSc says that outside healthcare no compulsory standard exists, and it recommends its chart to any company without a system of its own. In NHS healthcare premises the national colour-coding scheme is part of the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025, and a change to it needs approval from NHS England.

What is yellow used for in cleaning?

It depends on the scheme. On the current BICSc chart yellow is clinical, healthcare use. Under the NHS scheme yellow is isolation areas. Older BICSc charts used yellow for washbasins and other washroom surfaces, and many printed charts still say so. Check which one your site follows before you buy equipment.

Do cleaning chemicals need to be colour coded?

No. The NHS standards say that cleaning products do not need to be colour coded. Chemicals are identified by their label, and each one with a hazard label needs a COSHH assessment.

What about staff who are colour blind?

BICSc notes that a sizeable minority of people are colour blind in one or more colours and may not know it. It suggests a colour check at induction, and some sites link a number to each colour so the code does not rest on colour alone.

COSHH

Cleaning colour codes

Cloths, mops, buckets and gloves are colour coded so that equipment used on a toilet is never used in a kitchen. Here is what each colour means, where the two UK schemes differ, and a chart to print for the cleaning cupboard.

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Last reviewed 17 September 2026

The BICSc colour codes

The chart from the British Institute of Cleaning Science. Offices, schools, shops, hotels, pubs, restaurants and most contract cleaning follow it. If your company has no system of its own, this is the one BICSc recommends you adopt.

Red
General washrooms
Toilets, urinals, basins, showers and washroom floors. As best practice, BICSc shows a separate red and white set for the sanitary appliances themselves.
Blue
General lower risk areas
Offices, classrooms, corridors, reception, stairs and furniture. Anywhere that is not a washroom, a food area or a clinical area.
Green
General food and bar use
Kitchens, food stores, canteens, serveries and bars. Green equipment is used nowhere else.
Yellow
Clinical
Healthcare use. A site with no clinical area does not need a yellow set. On older BICSc charts yellow meant washbasins and other washroom surfaces.

Source: BICSc colour-coding chart and guidelines, checked 17 September 2026. BICSc also allows white, or striped cloths, for a bespoke or site specific use.

The NHS colour codes

The national colour-coding scheme for healthcare cleaning. It began as a National Patient Safety Agency notice in 2007 and is now section 6.2 of the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025. Any change to it needs approval from NHS England.

Red
Bathrooms and washrooms
Bathrooms, washrooms, showers, toilets, basins and bathroom floors.
Blue
General areas
General areas including wards, departments, offices and basins in public areas.
Green
Catering and ward kitchens
Catering departments, ward kitchen areas and patient food service at ward level.
Yellow
Isolation areas
Isolation areas only.

Source: National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025, section 6.2, NHS England, checked 17 September 2026.

The two schemes side by side

Red, blue and green mean much the same in both. Yellow does not. A cleaner who moves between a hospital contract and an office contract needs to be told which chart applies on each site.

Colour	BICSc chart	NHS scheme
Red	General washrooms	Bathrooms, washrooms, showers, toilets, basins and bathroom floors.
Blue	General lower risk areas	General areas including wards, departments, offices and basins in public areas.
Green	General food and bar use	Catering departments, ward kitchen areas and patient food service at ward level.
Yellow	Clinical	Isolation areas only.
Status	A recommendation. Outside healthcare there is no compulsory standard.	Required in NHS healthcare premises.

You will also see charts that differ from both, often from equipment suppliers: yellow for kitchens, for example, or yellow for washbasins as on the older BICSc chart. None of them is wrong for a site that has adopted it. The colour carries no meaning of its own. What matters is that the site has one scheme, written down, on the wall, and that everyone is trained on it.

What gets colour coded

Cloths, reusable and disposable.
Mops and buckets.
Gloves that are not disposable.
Aprons, where the site chooses to.

Cleaning chemicals are not colour coded. The NHS standards say so directly, and the scheme does not extend to catering equipment such as chopping boards and knives, which already have their own food hygiene procedures.

How to set it up

Choose one scheme. Healthcare premises use the NHS scheme. If a client has its own, use the client's. Otherwise use the BICSc chart.
Buy equipment in those colours only, and store each colour apart, with its own hook or shelf.
Put the chart on the wall of the cleaning cupboard.
Cover it at induction and in refresher training. Check new starters for colour blindness, and consider a number beside each colour.
Replace like for like. A worn red mop head is replaced with a red one, not with whatever is in stock.

BICSc adds one working rule: always clean from the cleanest area towards the dirtiest.

Where COSHH comes in

Colour coding is infection control practice. It is not a requirement of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, and a colour chart is not a COSHH assessment. COSHH deals with the products: bleach, descaler, disinfectant and anything else with a hazard label needs an assessment under regulation 6, whatever colour of cloth it is used with.

The two belong in the same training session, because the same people use both. If a product is only used in one area, such as a toilet descaler, it helps to record the equipment colour in that product's assessment.

Now assess the products

The chart covers the cloths. The generator covers the chemicals, one product at a time, with the hazards filled in.

Start with bleach

Common questions

What are the four cleaning colour codes?: Red for washrooms and toilets, blue for general lower risk areas such as offices and corridors, green for kitchens, food and bar areas, and yellow for clinical areas. That is the British Institute of Cleaning Science chart. Under the NHS scheme yellow is for isolation areas only.
Are the cleaning colour codes part of COSHH?: No. The COSHH Regulations 2002 do not mention colour coding. COSHH covers the chemicals; colour coding covers the cloths, mops and buckets, and exists to stop germs moving between areas. The two meet in practice, because the same staff training and the same cleaning cupboard cover both.
Is colour coded cleaning a legal requirement?: Not in general. BICSc says that outside healthcare no compulsory standard exists, and it recommends its chart to any company without a system of its own. In NHS healthcare premises the national colour-coding scheme is part of the National Standards of Healthcare Cleanliness 2025, and a change to it needs approval from NHS England.
What is yellow used for in cleaning?: It depends on the scheme. On the current BICSc chart yellow is clinical, healthcare use. Under the NHS scheme yellow is isolation areas. Older BICSc charts used yellow for washbasins and other washroom surfaces, and many printed charts still say so. Check which one your site follows before you buy equipment.
Do cleaning chemicals need to be colour coded?: No. The NHS standards say that cleaning products do not need to be colour coded. Chemicals are identified by their label, and each one with a hazard label needs a COSHH assessment.
What about staff who are colour blind?: BICSc notes that a sizeable minority of people are colour blind in one or more colours and may not know it. It suggests a colour check at induction, and some sites link a number to each colour so the code does not rest on colour alone.