According to the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, permanent signboards must be used for signs relating to prohibitions, warnings and mandatory requirements and the location and identification of emergency escape routes and first-aid facilities. Safety signs must follow a specific shape and colour code to mark the location and identification of fire fighting equipment.

These regulations came into force on April 1, 1996, and they pertain to all places and activities where people are employed and call for employers to provide specific safety signage whenever there is a risk that has not been avoided or controlled by other means. The fire safety regulations state that:

• Employers must use safety signs wherever there is a risk to health and safety that cannot be controlled by other means.
• Safety signs must be of a specific type.
• Text signs are no longer adequate; all signs must include a pictogram.
• Signs must be well maintained and sufficiently lit.
• Employers must make sure that employees understand the signs.

The installation of safety signs is part of an employer’s responsibility under the law to ensure, so far as is possible, their employees’ and the general public’s health, safety and welfare at work. There are a number of styles for safety signs. Blue circles are called “mandatory” signs. Yellow triangles are called “caution” signs. Red signs are called “fire safety” signs. They are used only for showing the location of fire extinguishers and other fire safety equipment.

Green signs are called “safe condition” signs. These signs can either tell people the location of certain safety equipment, such as first aid equipment and fire exits, or tell people that it is safe to do something in case of an emergency. Red circles with a diagonal line through a pictogram are called “prohibition” signs. You must not do whatever is shown on the sign. The fact that these signs have circles on them means that the instructions they contain must be followed.

Other signs may be used to point to toilets, et cetera. These can be any format you wish, but you must not be able to confuse them with safety signs. Note that a lot of safety signs do not require text. Symbols are used instead to give a multi-lingual sign. Use a blue mandatory sign for doors that need to be kept shut for fire safety reasons, for example those doors that are designed to hold back fire and smoke.

You can add any other signs that you think you need depending on your circumstances. Certainly the best option for places of work is to use rigid plastic signs fixed with self-adhesive pads or screws. You might also need to display some posters that give people information about safety. Regardless of the language your employees and customers speak, all signs must be quickly understood.

The Health and Safety Regulations 1996 require employers to provide specific safety signs whenever there is a risk that has not been avoided or controlled by other means, for example by engineering controls or safe systems of work. Apart from fire exit signs, you must have signs that show where your fire extinguishers are. Known as “photo-luminescent,” some signs are available in glow-in-the-dark finishes.

Keep in mind that a large number of safety signs and symbols can cause confusion as to what they mean – which is exactly what they set out to avoid. That’s why it’s best to stick to European standard signs, especially now when it’s essential to offer immediate understanding of safety messages worldwide, a job that the visual, language-independent power of the graphical symbol is the best to convey.

Some facilities are required to keep a minimum level of emergency lighting along the entire means of egress whenever the building is occupied. The means of egress may be more than just the aisles and main corridors, and emergency lighting may have to extend from each exit to every location where people might normally be found. A lot of of these spaces can be vacant for large portions of the day.

Any building is dark if there is a power failure. Emergency lighting will also be necessary if there is a fire in the building, as this could cut the electrical supply. The emergency lighting you provide in your workplace will depend on the size of the building. There might not be any need for emergency lighting if you do not use the building in the night and there are windows to let in natural light.

You may be able to use a few torches kept in convenient places for small buildings where few people work. Some torches have a charger, which plugs into a mains socket, and these torches usually come on automatically when the mains power fails. Self-contained emergency light fittings contain a battery charger, a rechargeable battery and a light source, which is usually an 8-watt fluorescent tube. Some units have spotlights, and these are ideal for taller rooms or large spaces

Emergency lighting units are available in two kinds: “non-maintained” (which come on only in a power failure) or “maintained” (which can be on all the time). Non-maintained units are more common, but maintained lights should be installed for exits and exit signs. The chief reason for emergency lighting is to ensure people can find an exit safely. It is not necessary to use exit sign emergency lights, but this would usually be recommended in addition to normal emergency lighting.

Emergency lighting almost always consists of unattractive boxes fixed to ceilings and walls. The first question to ask is whether emergency lighting is really necessary at all. There may be no need to supply any emergency lighting for a building if there is no public access after dark and it is otherwise unoccupied. Non-maintained, three-hour emergency exit box lights, which sit on the floor and are plugged into the nearest socket outlet, can provide temporary emergency lighting.

Photoluminescent technology is another option that can lead occupants to safety when the electricity goes out and a building must be evacuated. The purpose of this technology is not the illumination of a space, but rather to provide definition so people can orient themselves. Powered only by ambient light, photoluminescent safety signs and path markers glow in the dark similar to children’s novelty decals found at any craft store but at a much higher level.

Lights should be installed along corridors, near fire exits and fire extinguishers or fire alarm call points. It might not be possible to install normal emergency lighting in some buildings because it might interfere with historic features. Even if you have emergency lighting installed in larger workplaces, we recommend that you make torches available to staff.

All emergency lights need to be checked periodically. All mains powered units need to be tested for a functional test for about 10 minutes every month. Switches are usually wired into the lighting circuits to help you test the emergency lights. If you use torches, simply check that they work by briefly turning on the torch on a weekly basis and change the batteries every few months to make sure that they aren’t flat when you need to use them. You need to keep a record of when you tested your emergency lights.

Though power outages don’t happen that often, it’s vital that when they do occur, your building is suitably equipped with emergency lighting that can illuminate a path of safety for the people inside. There are many different emergency lighting options for facilities; choices range from torches to simple wall-mounted units to complex systems integrated into your building’s primary lighting system.