Emergency Exit

Since emergency exits often are not to be used as regular way out, the use of two different pictograms for Exit and Emergency Exit is essential.

An Emergency Exit leads directly out of an object or otherwise to a place of safety. It is a special exit for emergencies such as a fire: the combined use of regular and special exits allows for faster evacuation. If the regular exit is blocked for some reason the emergency exit also provides an alternative way out.

Synonyms / Other Terms Used

Emergency Egress, Escape Route, Evacuation Route, Fire Escape, Fire Exit

Category

Regulations, Directions, Safety Signs, Safety Action, Evacuation Route

Message / Function

To indicate an escape route to a place of safety

	Source	Description
	Kapitzki	Human figure running away from symbolic room with flames
	Icograda	Human figure running away from symbolic room with flames
	SLL	Flames behind human figure walking towards open door
	Icograda	Human figure running away from flames towards outlined rectangle indicating door
	Picto	Human figure running away from large flames
	BVG	Human figure running away from flames
	Erco	Human figure running away from flames
	O'72	Flames, above arrow pointing away from flames
	Brady	Flames, above arrow pointing away from flames
	Anikst	Extremely simplified flames, arrow pointing away from them
	Dreyfuss	Flames on top of shaft of arrow, human figure running away from flames
	Aureli	Plan view of exit, flame at bottom, above hand pointing upwards
	Collins	Human figure running through doorway with door open
	ISO 7010	Human figure running through doorway
	92/58/EEC	Human figure running towards doorway with arrow showing in the direction of the exit
	FFA	Human figure running towards doorway with arrow showing in the direction of the exit, star above
	92/58/EEC	Arrow pointing towards white rectangle indicating door
	AIGA	Green disk vertically bisected

Note: Some of the examples shown above were mirrored horizontally to contrast differences.

Discussion

The collection shown above is only a fragment of the wide variety of pictograms used all over the world to signify Emergency Exit. Colors shown correspond to sources found and are often not identical to the colors used in practical application.

A wealth of research is available that examined numerous aspects regarding this referent:

In the studies of Collins, Lerner & Pierman (1982) as well as Collins & Lerner (1983) the AIGA variant received a very small percentage of correct answers and simply was not recognized without the benefit of prior familiarization. Already expecting this effect the authors of the AIGA symbol signs project recommended to add the appropriate word (EXIT in the U.S.) to overcome that problem.

The ICOGRADA versions shown in the upper part of the table reached the best scores of all variants included in the ISO 1979/80 Test Series (Easterby & Graydon, 1981), while the 92/58/EEC version with the human figure running towards a doorway received more than 40 % of insufficient responses.

In a later ISO Test Series (Brugger, 1986) conducted in five countries (Australia, Austria, Great Britain, Hungary, and Japan), the variant from ERCO could neither reach the scores of the 92/58/EEC version mentioned before nor the Japanese design by Yukio Ota (marked ISO 7010) that emerged as best variant of more than 3000 designs examined in a large Japanese study. The latter was also the best performing symbol in the experiments of Collins & Lerner (1983) that also regarded impaired viewing conditions.

Recent research by Hung & Tan (2024) with a Chinese sample of sixty-five students included reference No E001 from ISO 7010 as part of the material used to study factors of sign comprehension. With a score of 100 % correct results again proved the excellent comprehensibility of this variant.

Note: Some states/countries require that exit signs are colored red, despite the fact that the usage of color red in signage usually implies stop, danger with high risk of injury or death, and also prohibited actions, while the color green implies safe place and actions. Kinateder et al (2018) showed that egress behavior differs from verbal report: even though subjects associated red with emergency they ran towards the green marked door in a simulated fire evacuation scenario.

Recommendation

Extensive testing by various organizations in several countries showed the superiority of this pictogram (Reference No E001/E002 of ISO 7010) even under impaired viewing conditions.

This pictogram is directional and therefore has to be used accordingly (Transportation Research Board, 2015).

Tests of pictograms of referents Exit and Emergency Exit

The list below is only a small section from the wide range of studies concerning aspects of how to indicate and identify an escape route or the location of an exit.

Brugger: Ch. (1987): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols, ISO 1986 Test Series: Comprehension/Recognition Test. Vienna: ISO / TC 145 / SC 1.

Brugger: Ch. (1996): Verständnistest UIC Kodex Merkblatt 413. Report to ÖBB GD 02 (Austrian Railways), Vienna, March 1996.

Collins, B.L. (1982): The Development and Evaluation of Effective Symbol Signs. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, NBS BSS 141, May 1982.

Collins, B.L. & Lerner, N.D. (1982): Assessment of Fire-Safety Symbols. Human Factors, 24(1), 75-84.

Collins, B.L. & Lerner, N.D. (1983): An Evaluation of Exit Symbol Visibility. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, NBSIR 83-2675, April 1983.

Collins, B.L., Lerner, N.D. & Pierman, B.C. (1982): Symbols for Industrial Safety. Washington, D.C.: National Bureau of Standards, NBSIR 82-2485, April 1982.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO Test: 1979/80 Series. Part I: Appropriateness Ranking Tests. AP Report 99, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Easterby, R.S. & Graydon, I.R. (1981): Evaluation of Public Information Symbols: ISO 1979/80 Test Series. Part II: Comprehension/Recognition Tests. AP Report 100, Applied Psychology Department, University of Aston in Birmingham, January 1981.

Gehringer, J. (1979): Untersuchung über die zeichnerische Gestaltung von Pictogrammen in Abhängigkeit von einigen Persönlichkeitsmerkmalen, sowie Überprüfung einiger Bildzeichen auf ihre Erkennbarkeit. Dissertation, Psychology Department, University of Vienna.

Hung Y-H & Tan Y. (2024): How symbol and text combine to promote sign comprehension: Evidence from eye-tracking. Displays. 83, 102709. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.displa.2024.102709

Kinateder, M., Warren, W.H., & Schloss, K.B. (2018). What color are emergency exit signs? Egress behavior differs from verbal report. Applied Ergonomics, Volume 75, 155-160.

Transportation Research Board (2015): Emergency Exit Signs and Marking Systems for Highway Tunnels. National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Web-Only Document 216.

Vukelich, M. & Whitaker, L. (1993): Effects of context on the comprehension of graphic symbols. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. 1. 511-515. 10.1177/154193129303700804.

Wolff, J.S. & Wogalter, M.S. (1998): Comprehension of Pictorial Symbols: Effects of Context and Test Method. Human Factors 40 (2), 173-186.

Zamanian, Z., Afshin, A., Davoudiantalab, A.H. & Hashemi, H. (2013): Comprehension of workplace safety signs: A case study in Shiraz industrial park. Journal of Occupational Health and Epidemiology. 2. 37-43.

Zwaga, H.J. & Boersema, T. (1983): Evaluation of a set of graphic symbols. Applied Ergonomics, 14, 1, 43-54.