Every workplace needs safety signs, but nobody needs every safety sign. What determines your list is your fire risk assessment and general risk assessment, not a template.
The starting point is what your workplace does. An office needs different signage from a warehouse, which needs different signage from a laboratory. Take prohibition signs. They belong at the point where the behaviour they forbid creates risk: a no-smoking sign at the fuel store, a no-naked-flames sign in the paint shop, a no-entry sign at the door of a locked plant room. Warning, mandatory, and fire equipment signs follow the same rule. Put the sign where the risk starts, not where you happen to have wall space.
Fire Safety Signs
Fire safety signs are a subset with their own legal weight. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 set the requirements for shape, colour, and symbol, and BS EN ISO 7010 standardises the pictograms so a fire exit sign is clear to everyone from Sunderland to Swansea. Photoluminescent signs are common along escape routes because they stay visible in a power cut, when a battery-backed emergency light hasn't reached full brightness yet, or when smoke drops visibility to floor level.
Where to Start
If you don't know where to start, start with your fire risk assessment: every prohibition, every mandatory action, and every fire equipment location it names will need a matching sign.
If your risk assessment doesn't spell out which signs you need, call the team on 0808 175 4375, or browse the fire safety signs and prohibition signs ranges.
Are safety signs legally required in UK workplaces?
Yes, in the sense that your fire risk assessment will identify specific signage requirements you're legally obliged to meet. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 have strict guidelines on shape, colour, and symbol - so what you install has to meet those standards.
Do your signs meet current UK standards? Are they compliant?
Yes, all of our signs are up-to-date and fully compliant. If you're not sure which set of signs is right for your workplace, then please get in touch and we'll help you out.
Where should signs be positioned?
Safety signs should be positioned where they are clearly visible and close to the hazard, equipment, or action they relate to. Fire exit signs should be placed along escape routes and at changes of direction, while fire equipment signs should clearly identify the location of extinguishers, fire alarms, and other safety equipment. Your workplace risk assessment should help determine the most appropriate locations for each sign.
