Microfiber Color Coding Chart

What it is

Color coding assigns each microfiber cloth or mop color to one area or task. Staff can see at a glance when a tool is in the wrong place. The goal is to stop germs moving from high-risk areas, such as toilets, to low-risk areas, such as desks or food counters. There is no single national standard. The four-color system below is the one most often used in the US. What matters most is that each facility picks one system, posts it, and trains everyone on it.

How to use it

1. Post the chart in every janitor closet and on every cart.
2. Stock each cart with all the colors it needs.
3. Use each color only in its assigned area.
4. Bag used cloths by color, or keep them separate until laundering.
5. Launder high-risk colors separately where the laundry process allows.

A common four-color system

Some facilities swap colors or add more, such as a separate color for patient rooms, labs or glass. Follow the facility's posted plan.

Key points

• Work clean to dirty within each area, and change cloths often.
• Fold cloths into quarters to get several clean faces per cloth.
• Microfiber holds soil and lint well, but some disinfectants bind to certain cloth materials. Check that the cloth is compatible with the disinfectant.
• Wash microfiber without fabric softener or bleach unless the cloth maker allows it. Softener clogs the fibers.
• Use the same colors for flat mop pads as for cloths in the same area.
• Replace cloths that are worn, stained or no longer pick up soil.

Common mistakes

• Grabbing a red cloth to wipe a break-room table because it was on top.
• Mixing colors in one bucket or one laundry load with no separation.
• Using colors only for cloths and not for mop pads.
• Bringing in a contractor whose color system is different from the facility's.

Governing standards: No national standard sets microfiber colors. Follow the facility's written cleaning plan and the cloth and disinfectant makers' directions.

Reference only. Verify against the current governing code or standard, the manufacturer's data and the project documents before use. Apps for Distributors disclaims liability arising from reliance on this reference.