Why do different trade workers wear different colour clothes?

[EK1]

hey,

just wondering why different trade workers wear different colour clothes? and what each colour represents. namely blue, yellow, orange and green clothes. thanks

[GT4N]

Don't quote me on this, but I think it's to differentiate between the diferent trades out there... i might be wrong.

I work in the plumbing trade.. (selling the fittings... not sticking my hands down dunnies) and i know for a fact that they wear the "Navy Blue" - i guess it's to do with the 'water' side of the job...

Builders and Carpenters/Chippies usually wear the Tuape/Olive colours.... and Painters normally wear White...

as for the orange... i think this belongs to the safety workers like SES as these are high vis....

but green....never seen it worn.. :)

[CME-LFT]

My thoughts.

Painters:white so that they can bleach the clothes and try to keep them partially clean

Mechanics: Black so you dont see all the oil/grease stains.

Council workers, energy aus :fluro vests for visibility due to the fact that they work around populated zones such as streets (e.g street lights) and such

Chippies: browns and such so you dont see all the sawdust there covered in.

Me im a sparky and the uniform from boss is blue king jees with light blue button shirt. I guess sparkies are considered the cleanest trade (even though were not) so i guess we try to look a little bit more formal/presentable with shirt and collar.

Like i said, i could be wrong its just my thoughts

[DJKOR]

Painters:white so that they can bleach the clothes and try to keep them partially clean

That is a good point. I always wondered why people like painters wore white when you always see them with different colours of paint all over them. I always thought that was a little funny.

Up until now as well, I thought it was also strange how those that work in labs (and have a white lab coat) wore white. I then thought that maybe this is so they know if they have spilt anything on them or something. Just an idea.

I guess sparkies are considered the cleanest trade (even though were not) so i guess we try to look a little bit more formal/presentable with shirt and collar.

Tell me about it. I hate it when going around doing work wearing a grey business shirt and black trousers and you are surrounded by all sorts of tradies. It always looks like you are barely doing any work. Half the time you are crawling through dusty/dirty places and getting all sorts of dirty, but it just doesn't look like it from the outside perspective.

[SuperDave]

The hi-vis gear is for people working in areas where there is traffic or construction traffic. Green is a no no because green=go, same with red. Yellow and orange are the safe bets if you need hi-vis.

I only know the hi-vis stuff, I don't deal with the other trades.

[lateralus]

i worked as an apprentice landscaper for a bit, and everyone i met in that trade wore either tan or green. i think chippes wear navy blue, mechanical trades (automotive, fitt and turner, etc) wear light blue, sparkies wear tan, painters wear white, plumbers wear navy blue also.

[httttt]

Good question. And I'm risking life and limb letting this little secret out there...

It is all about supply and demand. You have to represent what you are marketing.

All trade practices are competitive, how much money do you think they actually make? I'll tell you know, its nothing.

It is like the bakery industry, everyone knows it is impossible for a business to stay afloat when selling just flour mixed with water... serious. It is always a front for a seedy legal business.

Green - Hash

Blue - Coke

Grey - Man Whore

Brown - Only Male Whore

White - ICE

RED - Hitman

[Hiro]

Whilst this might be applicable for small business/tradies, it goes out the window for industry. Almost all industry workers, be they sparkies, boilies, fitters, foremen, supervisors, mechanics etc will wear the same clothes, and the colours will be based around a standard hi-vis strip (usually white or yellow) and then the rest of the clothes will be some combination of the company colours. My old company all the workers wore yellow and olive, and my current company they all wear dark blue and white (both those sets are closely linked to the respective company colours, although in the current case it is the colours of the former incarnation of the company before it was taken over by a bigger multi-national)

[Jap]

I'm a mechanical fitter by trade and work in the mining industry as a Workshop Supervisor

Colour depends on where you are.

Everyone across site (except for office workers) have to have reflective strips, regardless.

Underground guys wear orange for obvious reasons.

On the surface, it depends on the department and what the manager calls.

I wear navy trousers with orange shirt, so do my guys, but the fabrication guys wear all navy as the orange shirts deteriorate fast due to the light given off from welding. weird, i know.

Our Building Services dept (chippies, refrig mechs, plumbers and sparkies) wear light blue shirts with navy trousers.

I dont know of any set 'code' for uniform colour, but it would depend on the business owner more than anything.