Why Are Fire Safety Signs Important?

The individual requirements for your premise’s fire safety signs will be determined by your business’ individual risk assessment. this short guide to fire safety signs introduces the main signage available and shows you which situations they should be displayed.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that all workplaces must have adequate safety signs to point people towards fire-fighting equipment, emergency routes, and emergency exits. Primarily, they are used to warn and instruct employees of risks to their health and safety. This legal requirement is vital because, without proper signage, you are potentially putting employees’ lives in danger. Under health and safety law, all employers have a legal responsibility to ensure the health and safety of their employees whilst at work: fire safety signs are just one of the many things that you can do to comply with this requirement.

What are The Rules on Fire Safety Signs?

The following tips are stated in the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, they provide some guidance on which signs should be used and how and where they should be displayed:

• Noncompliance to The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 may result in CRIMINAL prosecution of Directors, Proprietors, Managers, and those responsible.
• Fire safety signs should always be clear and unambiguous – fire signs are used to clearly and effectively indicate the escape routes and exits.
• Escape routes and doors must be obviously labelled – any door that could be confused with an emergency exit should be marked clearly with a sign or notice indicating ‘no exit’, ‘no way out or labelled with their use, such as ‘storeroom’
• Escape route signs must be displayed along the exit route – signs should be placed at all changes of direction in corridors, stairs, open spaces and above all doors or junctions.
• Fire safety signs should be illuminated – this ensures that they can always be seen and be legible during power outages
• Direction arrows are included on escape route signs to indicate the quickest route to safety – wherever you are in a building, it is important that you can immediately see a sign for the nearest fire escape route. 
• Emergency exit signs above the final exit door should not feature arrows. Instead, they should be replaced by just the image of a running man or simply have the words ‘exit’ or ‘fire exit’.
• Don’t mix signs – stick to all European Standard signs or all British standards signs: don’t mix the two.
• It is recommended that fire safety directions are in picture form with supplementary text -signs need to be suitable for use by everyone, including those who have poor vision, suffer from dyslexia, or do not have English as their first language. The Disability Discrimination Act further says that you must make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for the disabled, including displaying braille and tactile fire safety signage alongside the standard picture signs.
• All employees should know the location of the nearest call point and what to do in an emergency – fire safety training is a legal requirement.
• Fire-fighting equipment must be identified with signs – for example, signs indicating the location of a fire hose reel or extinguisher.

Why is the Fire Exit Sign Green?

In the UK, fire exit signs are coloured green and white, this colour combination signifies a safe condition. These signs must feature a pictogram of the ‘rapidly walking man’ and an arrow. 

What do Red Fire Safety Signs Mean?

In the UK, red fire safety signs are used to indicate prohibition, the location of fire equipment, and supplementary information. Red prohibition signs are circular with a red border, white background and black image and warn you of what not to do in order to maintain safety. Fire equipment signs are square with red background and white images and are used to indicate the location of fire-fighting equipment.

What are yellow warning signs for?

Yellow warning signs are used to give warning of danger and are required by the (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996. These types of signs should be placed in areas of increased danger, for example, a chemical storage room may have flammable material or hazardous materials signs indicating a higher risk of danger (fire), and that caution is needed.

What are the blue Fire safety signs for?

Blue signs should be used to indicate actions that must be carried out in order to comply with statutory requirements. For example, fire doors must have “fire door keep shut” signs on both sides to indicate that the door is intended to stay close at all times as its purpose is to slow down the spread of fire.

What is the benefit of photoluminescent signs?

Here an MCL we value quality and effectiveness that’s why we are proud partners with Everlux with their Photoluminescent signage range. Photoluminescent signs offer increased visibility even in times where visibility would be obstructed. For example during the likelihood of a fire, visibility would be greatly reduced as power would be cut off to reduce greater fire risk. Everlux’s photoluminescent signs if given the correct amount of time to charge can be very bright and long-lasting approx 3100 minutes ( 51 hours).

Everlux ensures they follow the BS ISO 17398 standard to ensure the best quality product.

Photoluminecet quality assurance

On every Everlux photoluminescent sign, there will be details explaining the level of quality that can be expected. Information such as the luminosity intensity after 10 & 60 minutes, as well as the total amount of time which the sign will hold some level of light, can be found on each sign. Below is an example of what information can be found.