Emergency Exit Signs: How to Choose, Combine and Place Them (ISO 7010 E001/E002)

Emergency exit signs are the ISO 7010 signs people depend on when everything else has gone wrong. The two registered pictograms are E001 (emergency exit, left hand) and E002 (emergency exit, right hand) — the running figure and the door. Everything else on an escape route — up, down, around a corner — is built by combining E001 or E002 with a supplementary directional arrow in the format defined by ISO 3864-1.

This guide covers how the combinations work, where to place the signs so the route can be followed at walking pace by someone who has never seen the building, and when photoluminescent versions are the right call.

E001 or E002: which base sign?

The two pictograms are mirror images. The practical rule: choose the version in which the figure runs towards the door in the direction people must actually move. On a corridor where the exit is to the viewer's right, the figure should run right (E002); where it is to the left, use E001. The sign reads as movement, and the movement should agree with the route.

E001	Emergency exit, left hand — figure running towards a door on the left. E001 signs with arrow
E002	Emergency exit, right hand — figure running towards a door on the right. E002 signs with arrow
Format	Square or rectangle, green background (RAL 6024), white pictogram — the "safe condition" colour family of ISO 7010
Standards	UNI EN ISO 7010; ISO 3864-1 (arrows and formats); Directive 92/58/EEC and its national transpositions

Reading the arrows

The supplementary arrow is not decoration: it is the part of the sign that carries the route. The conventions used across Europe are consistent enough to rely on:

Arrow	Usual meaning on an escape route
Left / right	Turn or continue in that direction along the route
Up	Continue straight ahead (and, above a door, "through here"); in stairwells, upward travel
Down	The exit or continuation is below — typically downward stairs, or placed directly above the final exit door
Diagonal	Direction combined with level change — e.g. down-right for a staircase on the right

The full set exists as ready-made combinations: directional emergency exit signs, down, down-right, up-right, and the emergency stairs series for stairwells. Keep one convention throughout a building: if "up" means "straight on" at the first junction, it must mean the same at the last.

Placing the signs

A compliant escape route is one you can follow without stopping. Work through the route as a visitor would:

1. Stand at every decision point

Every place where someone could hesitate — junctions, corners, lift lobbies, open-plan thresholds — needs a sign visible from the direction of approach. If you can stand anywhere on the route and not see either an exit or a sign pointing to one, add a sign there.

2. Mount at a consistent height

Signs above doors and across circulation routes are typically mounted with the lower edge around 1.8–2.2 m from the floor, high enough to be seen over people and furniture. Signs read along a corridor (flag-mounted or suspended) should face the direction of travel, not the wall.

3. Check the viewing distance

Legibility depends on sign height. As a working rule from ISO 3864-1, an externally illuminated safety sign remains recognisable at a distance of roughly 100 times its height — a 200 mm sign at about 20 m. Long corridors therefore need either larger signs or intermediate ones.

4. Mark the final exit and the assembly point

The door itself takes the exit sign directly above it; outside, the route ends at the assembly point sign E007. A route that is signed perfectly indoors and then goes silent at the door is a common audit finding.

5. Reinforce at floor level where it earns its place

Smoke stratifies upward: in buildings where smoke-filled escape is a credible scenario, low-location marking (ISO 16069) and anti-slip floor-level exit signs keep the route readable when overhead signs are no longer visible.

When photoluminescent makes sense

A photoluminescent sign charges under ambient light and remains visible after the lighting fails — the first minutes of a blackout or fire, exactly when the route is being used. It is not a substitute for emergency lighting where that is required, but it is the robust, zero-maintenance layer underneath it.

Prioritise photoluminescent versions where lighting failure is plausible and escape is not immediate: stairwells, basements, windowless corridors, plant rooms, warehouses running night shifts. Interior signs are available in photoluminescent aluminium and photoluminescent rigid PVC; afterglow performance is measured under DIN 67510. For ordinary daylit offices with short escape routes, standard aluminium or rigid PVC versions from the evacuation signs collection are usually sufficient.

Frequently asked questions

Is the green running-man sign legally required?

In the EU, Directive 92/58/EEC requires employers to provide escape route and emergency exit signage where risks cannot be avoided by other means, and the ISO 7010 pictograms are the registered forms used to satisfy it across member states. The national transposition sets the details — in Italy D.Lgs. 81/2008, in the UK the Safety Signs and Signals Regulations 1996 (see our UK employer guide).

Do I need E001 or E002 if the exit is straight ahead?

Use either pictogram with an up arrow above the route or above the door. What matters is consistency: the figure should not run away from the direction the arrow indicates.

What size should I buy?

Work backwards from the longest viewing distance on the route using the ≈100 × height rule, then round up. Typical corridor installations use 200–400 mm widths; large halls and warehouses go larger or add intermediate signs.

Photoluminescent or emergency lighting?

They answer different requirements. Emergency escape lighting (EN 1838) is a building-services matter; photoluminescent signage keeps the signs themselves visible without power. Many buildings need both; no building is worse off for the photoluminescent layer.

Are "EXIT" text signs equivalent?

Text-only signs are not ISO 7010 pictograms and do not satisfy pictogram-based requirements on their own. Text can supplement the pictogram, not replace it.

Planning your escape route signage

Walk the route, note every decision point, measure the longest sight lines, and list where lighting failure is credible. Then select the combinations from the evacuation and emergency signs collection — standard or photoluminescent — and finish the route at the door and the assembly point.

Sources

Pictogram references and formats: UNI EN ISO 7010 and ISO 3864-1. Low-location way guidance: ISO 16069. Photoluminescence measurement: DIN 67510. Legal basis for workplace safety signage in the EU: Directive 92/58/EEC, article 3 and annexes, and its national transpositions. Product specifications quoted come from the StoreForSigns product pages linked in this guide.