What are fire safety signs
One of the important and mandatory measures related to the fulfillment of the requirements of the current legislation is the installation of specially made plates, which are designated by a special term - "information signs on fire safety". Their main purpose is to help a person in a room or building find the correct escape route or determine the location of fire extinguishing agents in order to quickly use them. Another important task of fire signs is to inform about the prohibition on the implementation of certain actions associated with the increased danger of substances stored or used in the room, technologies used or the presence of other similar factors.
Fire Safety Signs Standards
Anyone can easily find pictures and the purpose of fire safety signs on various specialized sites dedicated to the topic in question. They will also be given below in the text. In addition, on the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia and its territorial divisions, of course, not only images are posted, but also the necessary recommendations for their correct use.
Fire safety signs standards are established by the relevant regulatory act, namely GOST R 12.4.026-2015. It was developed relatively recently and came into force on 03/01/2017 instead of the previously existing GOST R 12.4.026-2001. When compiling this standard, the experience of the practical application of its predecessor was used, the recommendations of experts on the subject under consideration, as well as changes made to other legislative documents related to the field of fire safety, were taken into account.
Another legislative act, which contains the requirements and rules for the placement of fire safety signs, is NPB 160-97, which entered into force a long time ago - July 31, 1997. Nevertheless, the document has not lost its relevance to this day. And it is actively used.
How to place fire safety signs
The answer to the quite obvious question of how to place fire safety signs is contained in the regulations already mentioned above. Specific recommendations for the location of a particular plate depend, first of all, on its type. There are several main types of fire safety information signs. In order to get a general idea of them, it is necessary to briefly describe each group.
Evacuation signs are used, as the name implies, to indicate the route that people should follow in the event of a fire. They are square or rectangular in shape. Pictures and pointers are in white on a green background.
Signal plates (sometimes called signposts) show the location of various fire protection means and equipment. These include:
- fire station or control panel for security systems;
- fire hydrants and taps;
- fire extinguishers, etc.
The shape of the signs of the group under consideration is square. In this case, two options for the combination of colors are used - a red background and a white image or a white background, limited by a red border and containing a drawing or inscription of the same color.
Prohibitory signs are used to inform a person about the inadmissibility of any certain actions associated with an increased risk of fire. The shape of this type of plate is round. It has a white background, a red border, a black image or a pattern crossed out with a red stripe. Its direction is also clearly indicated in the regulatory documents - diagonally from the upper left to the lower right.
Mandatory signs are used to alert people to take a specific action. These may include turning off the electrical power, working only with respiratory protection, a place where smoking is allowed, etc. The plates of this group have a round shape, a blue background, and a white drawing or image.
Warning signs are used to warn of potential fire hazards. This can be the presence of flammable substances in the room, the use of technologies that pose a possible threat, etc. The form of the plates of the group in question is a triangle with a yellow background and a black border along the contour. Images are also in black.
The purpose of fire safety signs logically follows from their names. In addition, in most cases they are quite visual and intuitive. This greatly facilitates compliance with the requirements of fire safety legislation for their manufacture and further use.
Rules for the placement of fire safety signs
The above regulatory documents clearly define both the size and types of fire safety signs and the basic requirements for location and placement. Their number is quite large, but the most significant rules are relatively simple and straightforward.
The height of fire safety conformity marks is determined based on two main parameters:
- the distance from which it is easy to identify the contents of the plate;
- distance factor. It depends mainly on the level of illumination of the room in which it is installed.
It is allowed to manufacture plates of larger sizes than is provided for by the requirements of regulatory documents. This can be due to a long inscription, the possibility of positioning only at a significant height, etc.
The placement of signs of fire safety categories in rooms in accordance with GOST is carried out in such a way that two basic rules are observed. Firstly, the plate must be clearly visible, even if there are a large number of people in the room or workshop, equipment or other similar obstructing objects. This circumstance affects, first of all, the height of the location. For example, the “exit” signs above the doors are located no lower than 2.1-2.2 meters from the floor, and the signs indicating the evacuation route are in the range from 1.2 to 1.8 meters. In this case, attention should be paid to the illumination of the signs, since this is also an important factor for their effective use.
The second important condition is the number of plates installed. For example, the distance between adjacent evacuation signs should not exceed, according to the requirements of regulatory documents, 60 meters. It is also quite obvious that in each room, which has been assigned a certain category of fire hazard, appropriate signs must be placed. Their location must meet the requirements described above.
The installation of signs of categorization of fire safety in the room is deservedly considered an important and extremely responsible direction of work to protect the life and health of people from fire. That is why the current legislation pays considerable attention to this topic. In addition, during any inspection by the regulatory authorities, the question of the correct placement of the plates in question is almost always one of the first to arise.
