Posted By Robert K Lewis Simple answer is No. The up pointing arrow is to be used to show that the exit route is straight ahead, and is used on any level. The down arrow indicates that you should go down at the point indicated. The latter is often incorrectly used above doorways and is believed by many, I think, to indicate that you go through the door below the sign. It will be interesting if someone ever claims they fell going through a door so signed and expected there to be steps behind it. The BS and EU position is clear but the new guidance on FRA is unsatisfactory in providing assistance. They actually seem to repeat the error with their illuminated signs example. Bob

Posted By TBC http://www.marsden-fire-...uk/fire_safety_signs.htm Look at this list and you will see what the signs 'should' mean - not that anyone follows them. The final exit and out to fresh air should have the running man and Fire Exit displayed with "No Arrows". You may see these displayed correctly in NHS buildings.

Posted By John_Webster Clearly the signs were designed by someone who thought they knew best, but who was actually on a slightly different wavelength to the average Joe. I am sure that the vast majority of people, when looking for a way out and seeing a downward pointing arrow above a door will interpret that as meaning "go through the door", and will not care whether the final exit has an arrow or not - they will open the door with the exit (man running into fridge) sign above it and will find to their relief that it is the final exit. If the public can easily mis-interpret these signs in ways that could lead to greater danger then it is the sign, not the interpretation, that needs to be changed. If it does not really matter whether the arrow is up, down or absent because the degree of detail it is trying to convey is actually superfluous in a real emegency, then the standard should be changed to reflect majority public perception.

Posted By John_Webster My point is twofold - first that most members of the public do not know the standard, in fact may not even realise that there is one. Second that symbols and pictograms must convey the intended message. If the message is ignored or misunderstood, then the standard is not achieving what it was intended to achieve. Alternatively we may wish to consider that everyone else, apart from H&S and fire safety practitioners, standard writers and sign designers, are in fact stupid and that it would be their own fault if they then went up the stairs instead of straight ahead after going through a door trying to find the way out!

Posted By Ken Taylor I preferred the old 'pre-Europe' system where we had either 'Fire Exit' or 'To Fire Exit' with arrows only where needed to indicate a change in the direction of travel. The introduction of pictograms for fire exit signs may have been of some help but I suspect that few persons of any nationality had difficulty in understanding the words 'Fire' or 'Exit'. The arrows with the current signs often confuse and are usually wrong at exit doors - and this is well recognised by the 'fire community'. When studying ergonomics, I was taught that one should endeavour to fit the work to the person rather than the reverse. This principle could well be applied to the selection and use of signage.