Color is everywhere around us. The prevailing opinion is that some colors (warm) excite the human body more than others (cold), which various scientific studies try to prove. It is clear that not all people see all colors in the same way. Good color recognition is a requirement for workers at the workplaces of electricians, firefighters, divers... In different civilizations, the symbolic meanings of colors were different. Globalization leads to the need for an unequivocal interpretation of the meaning of colors - standardization. In 1927, RAL proposed a collection of 40 colors that later became the European color matching system. OSHA, ANSI and ISO provide standards for the appearance of safety signs and the use of colors on them and introduce the concept of safety colors, and these standards have been implemented in Croatian legislation. In this paper, I will give an overview of the concept and research of colors throughout history, the use of colors in safety and protection, the physical, physiological and psychological basis for the interpretation of colors and an overview of the results of research that investigates the influence of colors on humans.