• OSHA requires employers to mark aisles and walkways in some situations.
• Employers must evaluate their workplaces to determine an appropriate aisle width based on the specific conditions in the workplace.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)’s Walking-Working Surfaces standard does not specify that aisles and walkways be marked. However, if mechanical handling equipment is used, sufficient safe clearances must be allowed for aisles and walkways and 1910.176(a) requires the employer appropriately mark permanent aisles and walkways.

Marking

OSHA does not require a specific color, as long as employers clearly define the area considered as aisle space. Employers may use lines, strips, or other methods to define the area.

Painted lines are usually the most convenient and inexpensive way to mark aisles and passageways since the lines normally last several years without maintenance or repainting. On dirt floors or floors having continuous concentrations of sand or dust, painted floor markings may not be practical. Other methods such as marking pillars, powder stripping, flags, traffic cones, barrels and many other devices are appropriate as long as recognition is included in vehicle operator and employee training programs.

Width

The width of aisles and passageways is generally not specified, other than in specific instances. Examples of these specific instances include requirements for aisles 3 feet wide inside storage rooms holding flammable and combustible liquids (1910.106) and requirements for minimum exit access widths of 28 inches (1910.36(g)(2)-(3)). While 1910.22(c) and 1910.176(a) outline general aisle requirements, they do not specify aisle widths.

However, the recommended width of permanent aisles is at least 3 feet wider than the largest equipment to be utilized. The width of the largest equipment includes the width of the widest load carried if the load is wider than the frame of the equipment. For example, if forklifts might carry 12-foot-long lumber horizontally, the aisle width should be 15 feet or more.

Employers must also comply with any applicable local or state building and fire codes.

OSHA requires at 1910.176(a) that “where mechanical handling equipment is used, sufficient safe clearances shall be allowed for aisles, at loading docks, through doorways and wherever turns or passage must be made.” In addition, that regulation says that permanent aisles and passageways must be appropriately marked. OSHA offers no further regulation on the issue. As such, employers must evaluate their workplaces to determine an appropriate aisle width based on the specific conditions in the workplace.