Recognition of illuminated coloured markers that designate primary and secondary mine escapeways

• Published in: Lighting research & technology (London, England : 2001) England : 2001), 2020-12, Vol.52 (8), p.959-975
• Main Authors: Sammarco, JJ, Demich, B, Macdonald, BD, Rubinstein, EN, Martell, M
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Color; Fluorescence; Markers; Miners; Recognition; Smoke; Underground mines
• ISSN: 1477-1535; 1477-0938
• DOI: 10.1177/1477153520916776

It is critical for the safety of miners to be able to escape, unaided, during a mine emergency. Self-escape is challenging in the presence of smoke that can occur during a mine emergency. To assist self-escape, coloured markers in underground mines designate the primary/secondary escapeways, but no universal colour code exists. Ten participants were tested to recognize the colour and designation (primary/secondary) of fluorescent yellow–green (FYG), yellow (Y), white (W) and green (G) escapeway markers in both a clear and smoked-filled environment. The overall misidentification rate for all colours was 1.9% and 18.1%, respectively, in clear and smoke conditions. FYG had the highest misidentification percentage for both conditions. For the marker designation tests, participants were most accurate in clear conditions (100.0%) for the FYG + W, Y + G, G + W and W + FYG combinations, and least accurate (89.6%) for the Y + FYG combination, while for smoke conditions participants were most accurate for the G + Y combination (95.8%). The overall effect of colour combination was significant, indicating that the colour combination for primary/secondary recognition is a significant factor where the G + Y combination was best. It can be inferred from these data that the colour combination is an important factor in participants’ ability to recognize primary/secondary escapeway markers in smoke conditions.