FIRE SAFETY SIGNAGE GUIDE 2026

There are several categories and types of fire safety signage a premises requires.

Carrying out an FRA and regularly reviewing it, as required by the RRO, is essential to determine which signs your premises requires and are always maintained, keeping your premises compliant at all times.

■ Fire exit and Exit signs highlight the safest evacuation route and nearest emergency exit of a building.

■ Fire door signs provide mandatory instructions to occupants to ensure the effectiveness of a building’s compartmentation.

■ Fire alarm signs highlight the nearest fire alarm and manual fire alarm call points, providing information regarding its activation.

■ Emergency door operation signs offer simple instructions on how to operate emergency exit doors.

■ Stairway and floor level identification (wayfinding) signs enable occupants of multi-storey high-rise buildings to accurately and quickly inform Fire and Rescue Services of the location of a fire and assist firefighters in navigating their way around the building.

■ Fire assembly point signs show where a building’s assembly point is located to enable evacuees to report to their designated point and identify any missing persons quickly.

■ Fire extinguisher signs indicate the position and type of extinguishers present in a premises, show the classes of fire they can be used on and how to operate them safely, and help identify any missing extinguishers that need replacing.

■ Fire equipment signs ensure that equipment is present, and correctly and clearly identified (where provided) to enable firefighters to gain immediate access to facilities such as rising main outlets and smoke control vents on arrival at the scene of a fire.

■ Fire action notice signs include step-by-step instructions for occupants to follow in the event of a fire.

■ Prohibition Signs indicate actions or behaviours that are strictly forbidden because they pose a health or fire safety risk.

■ Warning and Hazard signs identify the location of potential hazardous materials or environments.

■ Fire safety notices and Fire plans reinforce important messages of life safety arrangements to occupants and Fire and Rescue Services concerning the premises.

Fire safety signage is categorised by colour and shape to indicate safety information, hazards, and actions under UK Regulations. The five main categories are Safe Condition (green), Mandatory (blue), Fire Equipment (red), Warning (yellow)), and Prohibition (red) signs. They ensure safe evacuation and fire safety compliance.

Safe Condition Signs are green rectangular or square signs which mark Exits, Fire Exits, Escape routes, operation of doors on escape routes and exits, Assembly points and the location of safety equipment, such as first aid equipment and breathing apparatus.

Mandatory Fire Safety Signs and Notices have blue circles which must be obeyed as a legal requirement such as fire door signs, fire action notices and keeping escape routes clear.

Fire Equipment Signs are red signs to indicate the location of fire safety equipment such as fire extinguishers, fire alarm call points and fire brigade equipment.

Warning Signs are yellow triangular signs and warn of potential risks such as flammable liquids, gas and chemicals.

Prohibition Signs are red circular signs with crossbars that forbid certain actions that could be dangerous such as No Smoking, Do not use mobile phones and No Admittance.

A premises may well have Combination Signs, one sign providing different instructions using each signage categories colour such as Green for a safe condition/escape route action, Blue for a mandatory action, Red to identify fire equipment or a prohibition action, and Yellow to warn people to a danger or an unsafe action.

Above: Typical examples of combination signs found in premises.

Orange signs indicate serious hazards, often related to dangerous substances that may intensify or complicate a fire. Examples include, highly flammable liquids, reactive chemicals and explosive materials. Orange acts as an enhanced visual warning in environments where extreme caution is required.

Above: Typical examples of combination signs found in premises.

The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 made it a legal requirement from 23 January 2023 for all high-rise residential buildings in England to install Wayfinding Signage. This includes clear markings identifying floor and individual flat numbers as per the requirements of Building Regulations:

Wayfinding signage for the fire service 15.13 To assist the fire service to identify each floor in a block of flats with a top storey more than 11m above ground level, floor identification signs and flat indicator signs should be provided. (Building Regulations 2010 AD B V1 B5 Section 15: Access to buildings for firefighting personnel – flats)

Approved Document B should be consulted for detailed guidance on the type, positioning and specification for signs; the wording to be used on each floor identification sign; and the specification for flat indicator signs to provide information relating to flats accessed on each storey.

Further information:

Fact sheet: Wayfinding signage (regulation 8)

Case Study – Wayfinding signage for high rise residential buildings

A fire alarm zone plan is a diagram showing how a building is divided into fire detection zones and is typically located next to the fire alarm control panel. It should include important features such as entrances, exits and circulation areas (fire doors) and should be oriented to match the viewers perspective and be presented in a tamper proof frame.

When a fire alarm activates, anyone responding to the alarm needs to be able to identify the affected area immediately. The plan can be used for quickly locating the area the alarm has been activated in as well as for fire marshals when evacuating the building.
This improves response times, supports effective evacuation, and enables fire and rescue services to act quickly.

If your premises does not have an accurate and up-to-date fire zone plan this is now classified as a major non-conformity according to BS 5839- 1: 2025.

See our Fire alarm zone plan video

Fire strategy plans are essential for modern premises to have on record, often contained within the premises fire strategy document, they should be used by an assessor during the FRA process to ensure all fire safety systems and measures, including fire safety signs are maintained as originally designed as an absolute minimum.

In older premises where there is no record of the original ‘fire’ plans, by using basic floor plans, a competent person such as a fire risk assessor should use floor plans as part of the FRA process to record and make recommendations regarding the premises fire safety systems, equipment, signage and passive fire protection measures. One recommendation may be to include a full compartmentation survey complete with plan should confirmation of the premises internal fire resistance be required and or there are concerns with the lack of fire resistance in some areas.

‘Fire Plans’ for any premises under the RRO are an essential item for a premise fire safety document records and should be kept on site to ensure any works (decoration, renovation or maintenance) being carried out, the plan is referred to so fire safety systems, equipment, signage and passive fire protection measures are always maintained and not compromised.

Safety signs are a requirement to protect the health and safety of the employees and anyone within the vicinity of the building. For an effective safety signing system, signs should be of similar style, design and format. A good way to achieve this, is to ensure that your signs conform to standards.