Hospitals often use code names to alert staff to an emergency. Code blue means a medical emergency. Code red means fire or smoke. Code black typically means there is a bomb threat. Hospitals are the ...

Hospitals use color codes to communicate emergencies quickly and discreetly. Each color code represents a different type of ...

This article, originally posted on Sept. 23, 2019, was last updated on Dec. 3, 2025. Please note that these statistics aren’t updated regularly. Always check with your state’s hospital associations ...