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Wayfinders

Every rule a wayfinding scheme answers to, UK and Ireland.

Access, fire, safety signs, road signs and language law, from Part M to TSRGD, in one place. Each document has a plain-English summary of what it asks of signage, the current edition, and its equivalents on the other side of the Irish Sea.

Regulations, standards and guides
68Regulations, standards and guides
Jurisdictions: Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
5Jurisdictions: Ireland, England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
Open-licence documents to download here
16Open-licence documents to download here
Every entry checked against its source
16 Oct 2026Every entry checked against its source

Access & inclusion

Universal design

Tactile & braille

Fire & life safety

Safety signs

Evacuation plans

Traffic & road signs

Language & bilingual signage

Law & building control

Healthcare

Education

The equivalents

Same obligation, five rulebooks.

Building regulations are devolved, so a scheme in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Dublin and London can answer to five different documents. Here is which one applies where.

ObligationIrelandEnglandWalesScotlandNorthern Ireland
Access to buildingsThe building-regulation guidance on access, signage and visual contrast.
Accessible design standardThe detailed design standard most guidance points back to.
Fire safety guidanceEscape signage, fire door signs and firefighter wayfinding.No separate document
Existing high-rise residentialRetrospective floor and flat identification duties.No separate documentNo separate documentNo separate documentNo separate document
Safety sign lawThe workplace duty to provide safety signs, from Directive 92/58/EEC.
Safety sign designOne set of symbols and colours on both islands.
Emergency lightingHow escape signs are lit when the power fails.
Evacuation plansContent, symbols and orientation of fire plans.
Road traffic signs lawPrescribed signs for roads, car parks and estate roads open to the public.
Traffic sign design manualHow prescribed signs are laid out and placed.
Language on signsWhen a second language is required, and how it is set.No separate documentNo separate document
Equality and disability lawThe duty behind accessible signage in services and buildings.
Building control and sign-offWho certifies the work, and the record that goes with it.No separate documentNo separate documentNo separate document
Healthcare wayfindingEstates guidance for hospitals and care settings.No separate document
Health service identity and signsThe health service's own sign manual and brand rules.No separate document
Public-sector identityGovernment brand and bilingual design rules on signs.No separate documentNo separate documentNo separate document
School designDepartment guidance covering school signage.No separate document

Scroll sideways on a phone. Where a cell reads “No separate document”, the library holds no jurisdiction-specific document for that obligation; the general law and standards still apply.

About this library

How we put it together

Every entry was checked against the issuer’s own page or the statute itself, and carries the date it was last checked. Editions change, so the official link is always the final word.

British, Irish, European and ISO standards are copyright documents. We describe what they cover in our own words and send you to BSI, NSAI or ISO to buy the text. Documents published under an open licence, such as the Open Government Licence, are hosted here free, with the attribution the licence asks for.

54 of the 68 documents are free to read. It is a reference, not legal advice: for a live project, confirm the edition that applies to your consent.

Ask us about a scheme

Questions specifiers ask

Which regulations apply to signage in a new building in England?

Access signage follows Approved Document M and the detailed design guidance in BS 8300-2:2018. Fire safety signage follows Approved Document B, with safety signs to ISO 7010 and escape route signing to BS 5499-4. Blocks of flats with a top storey more than 11 metres above ground also need floor identification and flat indicator signs to paragraphs 15.13 to 15.16 of Approved Document B Volume 1. Signs on any road or car park open to the public fall under TSRGD 2016.

Which regulations apply to signage in Ireland?

Access signage follows Technical Guidance Document M (2022) and fire signage follows TGD B. Safety signs at work are governed by Part 7, Chapter 1 of the General Application Regulations 2007, with symbols to I.S. EN ISO 7010 and emergency lighting to I.S. 3217:2023. Public bodies must also meet the signage rules made under the Official Languages Act, and road signs follow S.I. 433/2025 and the Traffic Signs Manual. On BCAR projects the signage contractor's ancillary certificate goes into the compliance file.

What are the Irish equivalents of Approved Documents M and B?

Technical Guidance Documents M and B. They do the same job as the English Approved Documents: they show one way of meeting the access and fire requirements of the Building Regulations. Scotland uses Sections 4 and 2 of its Technical Handbooks, Northern Ireland uses Technical Booklets R and E, and Wales has its own Approved Document M. The equivalents table on this page lines them up.

Are safety signs the same in the UK and Ireland?

Largely, yes. Both implement Council Directive 92/58/EEC on safety signs at work, and both use the ISO 7010 registered safety signs: the running man for escape, blue for mandatory, red for prohibition and fire equipment, yellow for warning. The national law that carries the duty differs, as do some British Standards that sit alongside, such as BS 5499-4 for escape route signing.

Can I use any design for traffic signs in a private car park?

Only if the public has no access. Any traffic sign on a highway or a road to which the public has access must be a prescribed TSRGD sign, or be specially authorised. Many privately owned car parks, campus roads and estate roads are open to the public, so they fall inside that test. Prescribed signs should be built from the Department for Transport working drawings, never redrawn.

Is BS 8300 free to download?

No. BS 8300-1:2018 and BS 8300-2:2018 are copyright documents sold by BSI. We summarise what they cover in our own words and link to the official BSI page. Where a document is published under an open licence, such as Approved Documents M and B under the Open Government Licence, we host a free copy here.

Compliance, in more depth.

Compliance & the Law →