Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 officially in action now.

Wayfinding signage for the fire service

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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 (see Diagram D6), floor identification signs and flat indicator signs should be provided.

 

15.14 The floor identification signs should meet all of the following conditions.

• a. The signs should be located on every landing of a protected stairway and every protected corridor/lobby (or open access balcony) into which a firefighting lift opens.

• b. The text should be in sans serif typeface with a letter height of at least 50mm. The height of the numeral that designates the floor number should be at least 75mm.

• c. The signs should be visible from the top step of a firefighting stair and, where possible, from inside a firefighting lift when the lift car doors open.

• d. The signs should be mounted between 1.7m and 2m above floor level and, as far as practicable, all the signs should be mounted at the same height.

• e. The text should be on a contrasting background, easily legible and readable in low level lighting conditions or when illuminated with a torch.

 

15.15 The wording used on each floor identification sign should take the form Floor X, with X designating the number of the storey, as intended for reference by residents. The floor number designations should meet all of the following conditions.

• a. The floor closest to the mean ground level (see Diagram D4) should be designated as either Floor 0 or Ground Floor.

• b. Each floor above the ground floor should be numbered sequentially beginning with Floor 1.

• c. A lower ground floor should be designated as either Floor –1 or Lower Ground Floor.

• d. Each floor below the ground floor should be numbered sequentially beginning with Floor –1 or Basement 1.

 

15.16 All floor identification signs should be supplemented by flat indicator signs, which provide information relating to the flats accessed on each storey. The flat indicator signs should meet all of the following conditions.

• a. The signs should be sited immediately below the floor identification signs, such that the top edge of the sign is no more than 50mm below the bottom edge of the floor identification sign.

• b. The wording should take the form Flats X–Y, with the lowest flat number first.

• c. The text should be in sans serif typeface with a letter height of at least half that of the floor indicator sign.

• d. The wording should be supplemented by arrows when flats are in more than one direction.

• e. The text and arrows should be on a contrasting background, easily legible and readable in low level lighting conditions or when illuminated with a torch.

NOTE: In the case of multi-storey flats with two or more entrances, the flat number should only be indicated on the normal access storey.