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HSE Signage Manual

HSE Signage Manual.

The HSE Signage Manual is the Health Service Executive's design standard for new signs at HSE facilities in Ireland. It sets the sign family from site entrance to door plate, the Irish language rules, letter sizes, colours, typeface and mounting guidance.

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For signage and wayfinding

What it asks of your signs

  • 01Every sign is Irish only or bilingual, with Irish first (above or to the left), no smaller than the English, carrying the same information and never set in italics.
  • 02The manual defines a complete hierarchy: site entrance signs, motorist and pedestrian directional signs in the grounds, building entrance signs, primary and secondary directories, internal directional signs, location signs, door plates and braille tactile signs.
  • 03Names must match everywhere. The wording on directional signs, on the destination itself and on appointment letters should be identical, so a patient told to find one department never meets a sign giving it another name.
  • 04Helvetica is the specified typeface, with Arial as the fallback, set in upper and lower case. Finishes should be matt to cut reflections.
  • 05The manual gives eye level as roughly 1500 mm for internal and external pedestrian signs, including tactile and braille signs. Check this against TGD M and BS 8300-2 on each project, since the Building Regulations take precedence.
  • 06Where possible, the manual recommends identifying rooms by numbers and letters rather than by use, so signs survive a change of service.

What it is and who uses it

The HSE Signage Manual is published by HSE Capital and Estates and applies to new signs in Health Service Executive facilities: hospitals, primary care centres, health centres and the rest of the estate. Its stated aims are consistency across the healthcare estate, compliance with the law (above all the Official Languages Acts), and a clear wayfinding system for patients and visitors who are often anxious when they arrive.

The current edition is Version 2, dated April 2025. It sits under the HSE National Guideline on Visual Identity and Naming, which tells staff that signage must follow agreed standards and points them to the Signage Manual. If you are designing for an HSE site, this is your brief alongside the client's own requirements.

What it asks of signage

The first part of the manual covers principles: walk the route as a stranger would, keep information to a minimum, use upper and lower case, follow Universal Design principles, and position signs so that plants, equipment, people and parked vehicles do not hide them. It includes a table relating letter x-height to viewing distance for each sign type, and asks for directories to be placed where several people can read them at once without blocking circulation.

The second part is a set of sign specifications, each with dimensions, materials and layout, covering site entrance signs in three sizes, wall-mounted and projecting site signs, post and panel directional signs for drivers and pedestrians, entrance signs, directories, directional signs, department entrance signs, door plates, projecting signs and braille tactile signs. Colours follow the HSE logo green, and arrows follow ISO 7001.

How it relates to the Building Regulations and the UK

The manual says plainly that signage is covered by the Building Regulations and must be read with them. In Ireland that means TGD M for access and use, and TGD B for fire safety signs, with Building for Everyone and the Sign Design Guide as further guidance. Where the manual's dimensions and the regulations differ, the regulations win.

Approach signs on public roads are a separate matter: the manual refers to the Traffic Signs Manual for hospital signs on the road network. The nearest UK equivalent is the NHS guidance Wayfinding: effective wayfinding and signing systems, which takes a broader strategic view of the whole patient journey and leaves sign styling to each NHS body's identity.

Common mistakes

  • Working from an old copy, such as the 2014-era first edition that still circulates on projects. Use Version 2 from hse.ie.
  • Setting Irish in a lighter weight or smaller size, or putting English first to save space.
  • Signing a department with its clinical name on one sign and a colloquial name on the next.
  • Treating the manual's mounting heights as overriding TGD M on a new build or material alteration.

Editions and history

Earlier editions of the manual were issued before the Official Languages (Amendment) Act 2021; the first edition dates from around 2014 and cites only the Official Languages Act 2003 and S.I. No. 391 of 2008. Version 2 (April 2025) adds Universal Design principles, the Building Regulations cross-reference and the 2021 Act. Use Version 2.

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.

Read more

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