ADB Volume 2

Approved Document B: Fire safety, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellings.

Approved Document B Volume 2 is the statutory guidance on fire safety under the Building Regulations 2010 for every building in England other than dwellings: offices, shops, schools, hospitals, hotels, assembly buildings and industrial premises.

Download free copy PDF · 2.4 MB Free from GOV.UK

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always check the official page for a newer edition.

For signage and wayfinding

What it asks of your signs

01Every doorway or exit giving access to a means of escape, other than exits in ordinary use, is marked with an exit sign to BS ISO 3864-1 and BS 5499-4 (paragraph 5.28).
02Refuges and evacuation lifts must be clearly identified. In protected lobbies and stairways, add a blue mandatory sign worded Refuge - keep clear alongside the fire safety signs (paragraph 3.8).
03Fire doorsets are marked Fire door keep shut, Fire door keep locked shut or Automatic fire door keep clear, on both sides, or on the outside only for cupboards and service ducts (Appendix C, paragraph C11).
04Exit signs must be readable when the mains fails, so coordinate the sign schedule with escape lighting to BS 5266-1 (paragraph 5.27).
05The document points to HSE's guidance on the Safety Signs and Signals Regulations and notes that other legislation may call for additional signs: building regulations are not the whole signage brief.
06Fire safety signage locations belong on the as-built plans handed over under regulation 38 (Section 19).

Scope

Volume 2 covers all buildings other than dwellings, grouped by purpose group: residential institutional and other residential uses such as hotels and student halls, offices, shops, assembly and recreation, industrial and storage. It gives one way of meeting requirements B1 to B5 of the Building Regulations 2010 and regulation 38. It applies to new buildings, material alterations and material changes of use in England. Wales has its own Approved Document B.

It is guidance, so a designer can depart from it with a fire engineered approach. For signage that rarely happens. The exit sign, refuge and fire door clauses are short, and building control and fire engineers expect to see them met.

What it asks of signage

The headline provision is paragraph 5.28: exits on escape routes that are not in ordinary use must be distinctively and conspicuously marked, with signs designed to BS ISO 3864-1 and BS 5499-4. BS 5499-4 is where the detail lives: sign placement along the route, viewing distances, and how directional arrows are used. ISO 7010 supplies the registered safe condition pictograms.

Refuges for disabled people are covered in Section 3. They need a clear identifying sign, plus the blue Refuge - keep clear sign where the refuge sits in a protected lobby or stair. Appendix C sets the marking of fire doorsets and lists the exemptions: doors to and within flats, bedroom doors in other residential premises, and lift landing doors.

Section 19 deals with regulation 38 fire safety information. The as-built plan handed to the responsible person should show the locations of fire safety signage, emergency lighting and other fire protection measures.

Common mistakes

Treating the building regulations as the complete sign list. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and the Safety Signs Regulations continue to apply once the building is occupied, and the fire risk assessment will add to the schedule.
Mixing old text-only or pre ISO 7010 pictograms with current ones in the same building.
Siting exit signs where they are not lit by the escape lighting scheme.
Leaving the Refuge - keep clear sign off when the refuge is designed into a stair core.

Equivalents elsewhere

Ireland's TGD B Volume 1, Northern Ireland's Technical Booklet E and Scotland's non-domestic handbook Section 2 all point to the same family of sign standards. The differences are in detail: Ireland references I.S. EN ISO 7010 and I.S. 3217 for emergency lighting, and sets a fire door sign mounting height in its own appendix.

Editions and history

The 2019 edition replaced the 2006 Approved Document B Volume 2 (as amended). It has been amended in 2020, 2022, 2025 and 2026, and the current published copy also collates the 2029 amendments on fire resistance classes, which take effect on 2 September 2029. Superseded amendment booklets remain listed on GOV.UK.

Sources checked

A summary in our own words, checked on 16 October 2026. It is not the document itself and not legal advice.

Equivalents and related

The same ground, elsewhere.

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