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You must decide which of the two styles you want to use, but the European Format is the one that is preferred and is commonly available (including legend sets for emergency lighting units). You should not mix the styles of sign in the same building to prevent people getting confused in an emergency.
Location
All areas of your Church or Place of Worship need to have fire exit signs installed, especially areas that are used by the public or if there could be confusion as to which doors are exits.
To start with, place a sign over every 'final exit' door like the main entrance or a fire exit door. These signs would normally not have an arrow, but could include words to prevent confusion.
Place signs over every exit door in each main room in the building. There is no need to put signs in small rooms like toilets and offices where there is only one exit and in areas where the public are not normally admitted and the exit route is obvious. These signs should have a down arrow (or optionally an up arrow for the British Standard sign type).
Signs must not be too high and need to be clearly seen in the room. It is normal practice to fit them just above the exit door, at a height between 2.0 and 2.5 metres from the floor. Signs can be fitted onto walls by screws or self-adhesive fixings. In some cases, it might be necessary to suspend exit signs on chains so that they can be seen or to protect historic building features.
In some situations, signs may be fitted onto doors, but this should be avoided because the sign might be hidden by the open door.
Other signs might be needed to tell people that they need to change direction or move along a corridor. In these cases, a sign with a directional arrow (left or right) needs to be used. On long corridors, it is a good idea to place exit signs at eye level at regular intervals along the length of the corridor. At stairs, it would be usual to use a sign with a 45 degree arrow (such as a down and right arrow). Signs mounted on walls would usually be fitted below 2.0 metres, but no lower than 1.7 metres.
To prevent confusion, signs should ideally be of a consistent size and mounted in similar locations throughout a building.
It is a useful check to make sure that you can always see the next exit sign from any point as you move along the exit route. This is to ensure that any person who is not familiar with the building has the reassurance of seeing an exit sign from wherever they happen to be.
Keep clear signs
It is essential that fire exit doors are not blocked and are kept clear at all times both inside and out. Inside, the the access to the door should be at the last the same width as the door itself and the door should be clear for several metres outside the door so that people can disperse away from the building.
It is common to use a sign on the outside of fire exit doors to remind people of the need to keep them clear. The sign would usually be a "mandatory" sign (a blue circle) and would typically read "Fire exit keep clear". Please see our Safety Signs page for more information on safety signs.
Some signs are available that include both the exit sign and a keep clear sign in two sections: one green (the exit sign) and one blue (the keep clear sign). These can be used inside but should not be used on the outside of the building.
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