Bolton Lock Company Ltd have in stock a wide range of Mandatory, Fire Exit & Fire Action Signs to help you to comply with your Health & Safety needs.

These signs should be used to indicate actions that must be carried out in order to comply with statutory requirements. For example; an area of a construction site where hard hats should be worn should have appropriate signs at the entry points and self-closing fire doors that must be kept closed, to comply with a fire risk assessment they should be labelled with the signs listed below.

Signs for doors indicating mandatory requirements consist of a blue circle with the pictograph or text in white positioned centrally.

It should be noted that the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996 do not apply to mandatory fire instructions, but they do apply to health and safety mandatory signs where pictograph’s are required. The minimum requirement is for the sign to include an appropriate pictograph and there are no pictograph’s for fire safety instruction signs. Although mandatory in the UK, through inclusion in the requirements of most fire risk assessments, such signs are not considered as health and safety signs within these Regulations. Thus the familiar white on blue fire safety mandatory signs using text only will remain in place and will not have to be changed.

Fire Exit Signs

In order to comply with the requirements of the Building Regulations 1991, every doorway or other exit providing access to a means of escape, other than exits in ordinary use, should be provided with an exit sign. Installation of signs conforming to British Standard 5499 will satisfy both the Building Regulations 1991 and the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals Regulations) 1996.

These signs should be used to indicate escape routes, emergency exits, first aid equipment, emergency showers and the like. In the same way as for mandatory signs some UK fire safety signs in this category are not required by the Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996. For example “PUSH BAR TO OPEN” is not required to comply and there is no pictograph with that meaning. Such signs are still needed for compliance with fire risk assessment and in some cases the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974.

Fire Action Signs

Fire action notices, that is notices which list actions that occupants must carry out in the event of a fire are, by convention, written as white text on a blue background but not in the circular format. The colours are used to convey the mandatory nature of the instructions but because of the amount of text normally needed a rectangular format is used. The general mandatory sign of a white exclamation mark on a blue circle may be used in conjunction with a fire instructions notice.

Safe Condition Signs

Safe condition signs consist of a green rectangle or square with the pictograph or text in white positioned centrally.