Posted By Smiff Morning all, hope you all had a good long weekend. We have just bought a couple of PTO-powered machines that will be used in a non-agricultural environment, and our marketing folks have asked that they are delivered in our corporate colour. One of our engineers has asked if there are any restrictions on using a dark colour for plant, rather than the usual JCB-yellow sort of approach. We only operate in daylight, and we have good standards of site layout and traffic management. Any problems with a fetching shade of blue on plant?

Posted By Jeffrey Watt Smiffy The only time I have seen a bright coloured digger is in the showroom they tend to be mud colored after that. Ford Tractors are blue, Davy Brown a nasty browny cream (at least the old ones are) neither are particularly dayglo and are on the roads all the time round our way. All the newer ones have really annoying flashing orange beacons which mean you can never tell if they are about to turn as the indicators merge into all the orange flashiness. Sensible approach was posted above. Jeff

Posted By Frank Hallett Hi Smiff The real issue is that potential access to the plant is effectively managed and that the actual operators are not exposed to undue levels of risk from, for instance, the PTO drive. Colour and beacons are not the primary level of protection; and, wherever possible, should be considered at the same level as PPE - the last line of protection. Also, beacons can actually be counter-productive as identified in an earlier response and when there are several items of plant operating in the same area Unfortunately, you don't provide sufficient information on the actual plant, likely usage nor potential operating environment to give any more than a brief overview of the issues. Frank Hallett

Posted By Frank Hallett Thanks for providing the additional info Smiff - I made the point about that as you identified that you were using the plant in a "non-agricultural" environment - it could have been in any type of mobile plant work where a range of differing issues could have been present that affect the view of the vehicle colour and in-built beacons etc. From your additional info - Your main priorities will be to ensure that unauthorised access to the work area is prevented and that authorised access is in vehicles and properly managed - the beacon may be of use as a vehicle spotter if it's a very large field! Sounds like a really nice early summer job! Frank Hallett