The management team at Safe Host are more aware than most of what’s involved in building an infrastructure that relies on low- and medium-voltage equipment, which includes planned expansions to 75 MW in three to four years’ time at the company’s SH2 Gland location. “A vast amount of electrical equipment associated with grid and emergency backup power is housed in each data centre, weaving its way throughout the building from gensets, switchgear, and UPS strings to the power distribution at our customers’ computer racks,” explained Line Dujourd'hui, director of operations for Safe Host. “During routine maintenance and repairs, this can be tricky to identify, so we need to move quickly and safely when isolating each floor of the building. Even so, we need to ensure that the investigation and repairs can be carried out swiftly and without incident.”

Safe Host’s infrastructure team came up with the idea of colour-coding each floor of their 36 MW data centre in SH2 Gland, as well as all of the equipment that supports each floor, wherever it is located in the facility. This makes service and maintenance safer and faster. The team chose 24 vibrant colours, from hot pink and electric blue to some more familiar yellow, of course! Applied during the manufacturing process, the colourful generators turned a few heads at the Caterpillar facility in Lafayette as they made their way down the assembly line.

“It’s incredible how such a simple idea has added so much value to our health and safety initiatives, and as we continue to expand, we plan to implement this system across all of our facilities,” observed Faiz Tandon, sales director and co-founder of Safe Host. “Caterpillar was very supportive. They share our focus on safety, and their ‘Everyone Home Safe Everyday’ initiative fits so well with our own efforts and ethos. Caterpillar understood why we needed these colours, and they made it happen.”

Safe Host staff and vendors are grateful for the system. Not only does it simplify their working lives, but it brightens up their day as well. It’s also a definite source of pride among staff that Safe Host is the only data centre that takes such a colourful approach to an everyday problem. Click here to find out more about Cat Electric Power for Data Centres.