Signage is the one part of your fire strategy that speaks directly to strangers. Visitors, contractors and new starters follow the running man, not the fire strategy document. Gemini AMPM surveys, supplies and installs fire safety signage to BS 5499 and ISO 7010, so every escape route reads the same in daylight, darkness and smoke.
ISO 7010 standardises safety symbols, so a fire exit sign means the same thing in Burgess Hill as it does in Berlin: the running man, the arrow, the doorway. The BS 5499 series is the British Standard for fire safety signs and escape route signing — it governs what each sign shows, where it goes, its size for the viewing distance and how routes are signed from any point to a final exit. Behind both sits the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996, which require signs wherever a significant risk cannot be avoided or controlled by other means.
Decades of refits leave most buildings speaking several dialects at once: old text-only signs beside modern symbols, arrows that contradict each other at junctions. Occupants under stress do not interpret; they follow. The signage should be one consistent language, end to end.
A Gemini signage survey walks every escape route the way a first-time visitor would. We check sightlines at each change of direction, sign sizes against actual viewing distances, mounting heights, final exits, refuge points, fire action notices and the identification signs on extinguishers, call points and dry risers. The output is a simple schedule: what is missing, what is wrong, what it costs to fix.
Where escape lighting is sparse, photoluminescent signs earn their keep — they charge under normal lighting and stay visible when the power fails, with no wiring, batteries or maintenance regime. We supply from leading manufacturers, install with the right fixings for the substrate, and document every location so your records match your walls. Book a signage survey and we will walk the routes before we quote a single sign.
Yes. The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 require safety signs wherever a significant risk remains after other controls, and the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires escape routes and exits to be indicated by signs where needed. In practice, your fire risk assessment determines exactly what is required: almost every workplace needs exit signage, fire action notices and equipment identification. Missing or contradictory signs are one of the most common findings enforcement officers raise.
ISO 7010 is the international standard for the symbols themselves — the graphical language of the running man, flame and arrow, designed to be understood without words. BS 5499 is the British Standard series for fire safety signs and their use: sizes, viewing distances, positioning and how a complete escape route is signed. In short, ISO 7010 defines what the pictures are; BS 5499 defines how they are deployed through a building. A compliant scheme uses both, consistently.
Not automatically. The test is whether occupants could still read the signs in a power failure or smoke conditions. Where emergency escape lighting is comprehensive and well maintained, standard signs may be adequate; where lighting is sparse — stairwells, plant areas, older buildings — photoluminescent signs are a cheap, zero-maintenance layer of resilience. Your fire risk assessment should make the call, and our signage survey will give it the evidence. When in doubt, the glowing sign costs little more than the plain one.
A named engineer, not a call centre, comes back within 24 hours. Tell us the building and what you’re dealing with, and we’ll scope it properly.