Green or Red exits?
- Thread starter mdshunk
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HighWirey
Senior Member
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- Cocoa, Florida, USA
barclayd said:
Bingo. You are the only responder who correctly answered Marc's OP.
Beat me by two days, and do I hate that !
Best Wishes Everyone
I think that red was the first color used in the US for exit sign letters. Then some people began to worry people might associate the color red with stop, similar to road signs. So some manufacturer's began to make green exit signs. I think the Code limited the color to either red or green at one point but right now I don't know of a national Code that states what the color has to be. But the manufacturer's only mass product red and green so that's what get's installed.
Wikipedia has some interesting info on exit signs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_sign
Also, as someone else has mentioned, the human eye is most sensitive to green light. Which is why I think most everywhere else in the world requires green signs. But the pictogram things sure don't grab my attention the same as our exit signs. Maybe it does for people who grow up with them.
Wikipedia has some interesting info on exit signs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exit_sign
Also, as someone else has mentioned, the human eye is most sensitive to green light. Which is why I think most everywhere else in the world requires green signs. But the pictogram things sure don't grab my attention the same as our exit signs. Maybe it does for people who grow up with them.
2000 NFPA 101, Appendix A.7.10.1.7
"Red is the traditional color for exit signs and is required by law in many places. However, at an early stage in the development of the Code, a provision made green the color for exit signs, following the concept of traffic lights in which green indicates safety and red is the signal to stop. During the period when green signs were spedified by the Code, many such signs were installed, but the traditional red signs also remained. In 1949, the Fire Marshals Association of North America voted to request that red be restored as the required exit sign color, as it was found that the provision for green involved difficulties in law enactment that were out of proportion to the importance of safety. Accordingly, the 10th edition of the Code specified red where not otherwise required by law. The present text avoids any specific requirement for color on the assumption that either red or green will be used in most cases and that there are some situations in which a color other than red or green could actually provide better visibility."
"Red is the traditional color for exit signs and is required by law in many places. However, at an early stage in the development of the Code, a provision made green the color for exit signs, following the concept of traffic lights in which green indicates safety and red is the signal to stop. During the period when green signs were spedified by the Code, many such signs were installed, but the traditional red signs also remained. In 1949, the Fire Marshals Association of North America voted to request that red be restored as the required exit sign color, as it was found that the provision for green involved difficulties in law enactment that were out of proportion to the importance of safety. Accordingly, the 10th edition of the Code specified red where not otherwise required by law. The present text avoids any specific requirement for color on the assumption that either red or green will be used in most cases and that there are some situations in which a color other than red or green could actually provide better visibility."
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