ISO 23601:2020
Safety identification: Escape and evacuation plan signs.
ISO 23601 sets the design principles for displayed escape and evacuation plans: the framed floor plans on walls that show occupants where they are, their escape routes, and the fire safety and rescue equipment around them. It is the reference standard for evacuation plan design.
For signage and wayfinding
What it asks of your signs
- 01Specify ISO 23601 for any evacuation plan displayed in a workplace or public building. The standard treats the plan as a sign, so hold it to the same rigour as the rest of the safety sign family.
- 02Plans are for occupants first, though emergency services may also use them during an incident.
- 03It does not cover plans prepared for external safety services or detailed technical drawings for specialists, so a premises information box drawing for firefighters is a separate brief.
- 04Draw from up-to-date, as-built floor plans and keep plans current when the layout changes.
- 05Coordinate plan symbols, room names and colours with the rest of the wayfinding scheme so a person can read the plan against the building.
Scope
ISO 23601 establishes design principles for displayed escape plans that contain information on fire safety, escape, evacuation and rescue for a facility's occupants. The plans are intended to be displayed as signs in public areas and workplaces, and may also be used by intervention forces in an emergency. It does not apply to plans for external safety services or to detailed technical drawings for specialist use.
Why it matters
Where a fire risk assessment, fire strategy or client brief calls for displayed evacuation plans, ISO 23601 is the benchmark a plan will be judged against. A plan that misplaces the viewer, uses non-standard symbols or shows a superseded layout is worse than none.
In England, the Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022 separately require floor plans and a building plan for high-rise residential buildings to be shared with the fire and rescue service. Those plans serve firefighters and are a different product from the occupant plans covered here.
Status
The second edition was published in October 2020 and replaced ISO 23601:2009. ISO confirmed it at systematic review in March 2026, so it remains current. BSI publishes it as BS ISO 23601:2020.
Editions and history
ISO 23601:2009 was withdrawn when the second edition, ISO 23601:2020, was published. Confirmed at systematic review on 11 March 2026.
Sources checked
- iso.org/standard/80678.html
- knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/safety-identification-escape-and-evacuation-plan-signs-1
- knowledge.bsigroup.com/products/safety-identification-escape-and-evacuation-plan-signs-2
- legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2022/547/contents/made
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.
- Graphical symbols: Safety colours and safety signs: Registered safety signsInternational
- Graphical symbols: Safety signs: Safety way guidance systems (SWGS)International
- Safety signs: Code of practice for escape route signingUK
- The Fire Safety (England) Regulations 2022England
- Approved Document B: Fire safety, Volume 2: Buildings other than dwellingsEngland
- Technical Guidance Document B: Fire SafetyIreland
Working to ISO 23601:2020 on a live project?
Wayfinding design, compliance, manufacture and installation, with the signage certificates signed off by us.