Exit Signs

[Andy]

I rarely see exit signs these days which actually use the word 'exit' on them.
More often that not, if lighting related, they are generally an 8w fluorescent (or LED) maintained bulkhead covered with a green sticker of a man running towards what is presumably an open door with an arrow.

Can anyone tell me if you have to use this silly running man logo or whether it is fully compliant with health and safety rules to just use the word EXIT on the sign?
Thanks

[FrontSideBus]

It's quite funny as I was recently in New York and the Americans still love their exit signs and it's really strange as they used red for the text colour while we use white on a green background.
The ones I normally notice have the exit and man symbol on them.

[Slyspark]

Nope, you can't use the word EXIT on the sign any more. Comes under some European regulation stating that exit signs have to be pictorial in all European countries (they're all sposed to use the green running man) so that people who live there, or are visiting and don't speak the local language can still understand what the sign means. I think it was as far back as about 1996 that this came in, at first, you could use a sign that said exit on it AND showed the running man, but now it's symbols only.

I guess it's possible that we could in theory drop this after Brexit, but I don't think it's that likely we will. There are a lot of other foreign, non-European countries that now also use this format, so I suspect it's here to stay.

[Andy]

Thanks,
I suspected that you couldn't just use the word EXIT but it's good to know for certain.
Doesn't surprise me that the EU has something to do with it either!

I don't know if it is just me but I think the running man symbol is a bit crap really. Whilst the old Exit signs I used to see were well made, these days they often just seem to use cheap bulkheads with the running man sticker slapped over the top of it whether it fits properly or not.

[Slyspark]

And of course, the FIRST thing they tell you not to do in the event of an evacuation is to run.....

[Kev]

This is my understanding of the situation too, HOWEVER I DID see some modern LED bulkheads the other day with green EXIT stickers on them around the back of a property, so there maybe hope, I hope we can ditch the silly EU regs when we get out, worst thing they ever did was change our colour codes!!!!!!!! Someone should be shot over that!

[HIDLamp]

Yes I've always thought that having the blue neutral the same colour as the old blue phase was a daft idea asking for trouble as well as having the new black phase the same colour as the old black neutral

[FrontSideBus]

The fire extinguishers was daft too. I mean before the EU, the whole thing was colour coded so you could see exactly what type it was even from far away but now the whole thing has to be red apart from a tiny square on the front that denotes what type it is! In a fire, I want to get the right one, not ponce about wasting time trying to see what one it is...

[Kev]

It's happened loads of times even on the company I work for you end up with reverse polarity on 2 phases and 400V out the sockets on the other causing untold devastation this happened at a police station somewhere and destroyed a whole towns CCTV room! Utter bollox I'm so glad we got a leave vote! Fuck the EU

[Kev]

lol I agree mark if a building is actually on fire the last thing you want to be doing is pissing around with stupid PC logos you need to be able to look and get on with it!