I Have taken over a large building with many internal and external fire doors. Are these signs supposed to be illuminated or not. Some of the intervals doors are illuminated and others not. I've checked RRF regs but can find anything that sets out the law on this. Please help.

Hi Gasmonkey, BS EN 1838:2013 says that emergency lighting should (among other places) be situated near any exit door which is intended to be used as an emergency exit. If you have some exit doors with no emergency illumination they wont be compliant with British Standards. You might also want to look BS 5266-1:2011 section 10 for information on how your emergency lighting system should look like. The RR(FS)O only specifies that emergency routes and exits must be indicated by signs and that routes and exits requiring illumination are of adequate intensity (14.2(g) and (h)). Hope this helps.

Some really good alive there guys thanks. I checked out 9999 Invictus and I found that very useful, actually going to keep it as a desktop shortcut, appreciated. Jamesrushton/ mssy you touched on the fire exit signs being illuminated, should they all be illuminated or just the final exits? Does the RA depict this or are they only to be illuminated in hard to see areas? Thanks again chaps, Gasmonkey

Exit routes must be usable by persons when the building is occupied. This may require signage to be lit by existing EL (if any) or from borrowed light - eg from lamposts outside. This is the RA bit - to determine 'where necessary' I would suggest that where there is a need for illuminating a sign, but no existing EL in that area, it might be appropriate to install a £30 EL sign rather than extending the existing EL system Have a look at the link I posted earlier & good luck

"The conclusion is that photo-luminescent exit signs, as an alternative to internally or externally electrically illuminated escape route signs, would not meet the requirements of the Fire Safety Order guidance and other regulations and, therefore, should not be used instead of internally or externally electrically illuminated escape route signs" http://www.connectingind...safety-requirements.aspx

Funny. The ones actively promoting the use of said signs are.......the ones selling same! Winters coming. Less [day]light about.

Yup I tend to agree with FireSafety101 on this one. Photoluminescent signs tend to 'glow' long enough for people to get out of a burning building these days. 9 times out of 10 they will be charged by lights in the room/sunlight through windows, however I'd be wary in dark corridors etc where the illuminated versions would probably be more appropriate (likewise in massive buildings where the time taken to evacuate may take longer than the time signs will glow once the lights go out). Also worth considering low level photoluminescent signs nearer ground level for 'smoke environments' in high risk buildings? As others have mentioned (and is so often the case in H&S much of the decision making comes down to risk assessments).