Mark Krause, Author at DDA Disability Access Consultants Melbourne Servicing all of Australia

But Yellow Tactiles on Concrete Comply….. Dont They?

We are all familiar with the now, common sight of Tactile Ground Surface indicators, (TGSI’s) on footpaths, at stairways, ramps, railway platforms. TGSI’s installed on the ground or floor surface are designed to provide pedestrians who are blind or vision-impaired with warning or directional orientation information.

TGSI’S are available in various materials, types, and colours. ‘Yellow’ would now appear to be most dominant coloured tile. Why ‘Yellow’. Yellow, as a primary colour, it says, ‘look at me’. It is bright and readily identified. This may be the reasons the reason we see so many of the current tactile installations employing yellow however it is a misconception that this colour is the correct for all installations.

All tactile installations are to are to comply with the requirements of BCA, Disability (Access to Premises – Buildings) Standards 2010, and Australian Standards AS 1428.1–2009 & AS/NZS 1428.4.1–2009. This includes achieving a minimum luminance contrast of:

30% contrast for TGSI tiles,
45% contrast for the single coloured ‘discrete’ TGSI cones and
60% contrast for two colours or materials used for ‘discrete’ TGSI cones.

Luminance contrast is defined in Australian Standard 1428.1-2009 as ‘the light reflected from one surface or component, compared to the light reflected from another surface or component’. It is not the difference in the colour or the colour contrast, but the difference in the light reflective values (LRV’S) of each colour.