World Colour Blind Awareness Day
What is World Colour Blind Awareness Day?
World Colour Blind Awareness Day celebrates and raises awareness of colour blindness. Approximately 1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women are colour blind, in the UK this makes up around 3 million people.
It is celebrated annually on 6th of September, the birthday of John Dalton, a scientist who was the first person known to realise colour blindness exists.
World Colour Blind Awareness Day and Employment
As an employer, it is important to accommodate the needs of colourblind employees, to ensure they have access to materials and resources as well as emergency procedures. Consideration should be given to:
- The colours in which materials are produced
- Colour coding used in data and presentations
- The contrast between backgrounds and the information being portrayed
Documents and resources that need to be accessible include:
- Company website
- Intranet site or bulletin boards
- Company policies and procedures
- Presentations
- Data and reports
- Emergency equipment
- Emergency procedure information
1 in 12 men and 1 in 200 women may not be able to read or interpret the above, which can be a large proportion of any workforce. It is a common misconception that colour blindness means people can’t ‘see’ or confuse only red and green, which is not true. Employers can also:
- Raise awareness of colour blindness
- Share simulated images for people to see the difference between normal vision and colour-blind vision
- Use Colour Blind Awareness Day to celebrate and promote colour blindness. This could include testing employees, simulation exercises and sharing resources and information to help educate people.
