Why is it not required that LED arrows are placed along the skirtings and floors of buildings?.
Ever been in a building full of smoke?.

Some of the jurisdictions are starting to require exactly that.
The strongest opposition seems to be from the Interior Designers and Architects. If it were up to them, I doubt that we'd be allowed to have exit signs at all since they ruin the clean look of the design.
Anybody ever seen an Architectural rendering that showed ever a single exit sign (or fire extinguisher)?

That is an idea that is only now being bandied about; one hotel here has placed additional signs at approximately knee-level.

While one ought to always favor "saving lives," I'm not sure that adding signs and lights is the answer. In some ways, it seems like treating cancer with a back rub; and, when that doesn't work well enough, to rub harder!

In the coarsest sense, additional circuits and hardware are only going to provide additional sources of ignition and maintenance.

I think that, for there to be improvement in this area, we need to address two basic issues : human behavior and basic design.

Last October 31, we had a hotel fire that killed 13 of the 60 people in the building at the time. In addition, 25 more were taken to the hospital, at least for treatment. What makes this even more shocking is that the fire occurred at a time when everyone was awake, management was present, the alarms worked, and the fire house was across the street.
One factor that likely contributed was the responses of the residents. One survivor described how he heard the ruckus, heard the alarms, saw smoke .... and his response was to stuff a towel in his door, and go back to his computer game! Friends, all the alarms and signs won't help if you fail to respond!

Another factor is suggested by ... well, let me use a shopping center as an example.
The "Old City" of Jerusalem has a market area, that is a warren of little stalls, small shops, winding alleys, etc. It is simply not possible, at any point, to identify your position ... and quite easy to get confused. Indeed, quite often folks who think they are carefully retracing their steps find themselves exiting from the opposite side of the city.
Compare this to, say, your modern shopping mall. For the most part, even first-time visitors have little trouble returning to their cars ... and, even if they go down the wrong hall, there's an exit there. No blind alleys. No sudden changes in floor levels.

My point in giving these examples is: building layout can either match the 'natural flow,' helping you to exit ... or it can send you right off the loading dock. It takes an awful lot of signs to counter a poor layout!

New York City just (about a year ago or so)began requiring photoluminescent signage (glow in the dark) in high rise buildings along the floor in the exit stairs.

after 9/11/2001 the pentagon reported that it was hard to see the exit signs (at the pentagon--not at new york) they said they were going to install them at knee level for that reason, but that is the last i heard about it.

Whether luminous, illuminated by LEDs, filament lamps, or other means, the one thing I hate now is the stupid "running man" exit signs we're stuck with due to EU directives.

What a pointless, expensive change for no advantage.

As a related topic;
The Fl IAEI is questioning sinage etc when the garage of a model home is being used as office space. The question is whether this should then require everything that is required in any other office. If you really did a life safety checklist it would probably just eliminate that usage. I can't imagine how you could really call the garage door an egress route if the power was out. I actually came down on the "too restrictive" side of the argument. I am not totally sure how they get away with not having full egress signage and accessibility in ANY building permanently used as a model and that would certainly apply to one used as office space.
They say a model is the same as any other home for sale by owner. I dissagree. This was purpose built to sell other homes, not THAT one. It isn't a home for sale, it is a display open to the public.

One thing I would like to add to this thread, is the fact that if the lights suddenly go out in a place, you can bank on the fact that people will panic.
Most people are only in a store to buy things and then leave, most would not know how to retrace thier steps to get out of the place, couple that with the fact that most buildings these days are of tilt-slab construction and often don't have windows, therefore negating any natural light inside the building.
Emergency lighting systems here seem to be so poor in providing enough light to actually be effective that I reckon that an LED strip or something similar should be continuously illuminated.
Having been a FF for some years, the best thing you can do if you get lost, is sink back down to ground level.
I ran out of air from my BA (Breathing Apparatus) set once, there is a 2ft space under the smoke that has breathable air.
Some LED indicators would have been really helpful.

This is exactly the reason we should be looking closer at the garage offices in model homes.
Trip the breaker for the garage door opener, set a big trash can inside the door to the house to represent a fire and shout "fire". That will make the people who work in there question the wisdom of their management. When talking to the management suggest the people in the garage/office can be customers. Employees are just "meat".

I'm going by the IBC here, but other building codes will be similar. exit signs and emergency lights in rooms are only required when the room is required to have two or more exits. In an office (B) occupancy, two exits are only required in rooms that have an occupant load of 50 or more. The occupant load in offices is typically calculated at 100 sq. ft. per occupant. For this garage/office to be required to have exit signs and emergency lights under the IBC, it would need to be 5000 sq. ft. or more.

It has been a while since I was in office design but I also remember a limit on "dead ends". We never had more than 10 people in our space but we got beat up because we had a single egress route that was too long.

Does anyone know about altering the color of the lettering? In the theatre, those darn bright green signs can be a real eyesore... In spaces that aren't equipped with dimming signs, I've stuck in some blue diffusion gel to knock them down a bit. Eye-friendly yes, but probably frowned upon. So far, I haven't heard of any fire inspectors freaking out about them, and they come through all the time when we apply for open-flame and pyro permits.

Aren't most U.S. exit signs available in red versions as well? Or do you have a state/local law which requires green?

I'm not sure about the laws, but red might be just as bad depending on the intensity... Anyone know if there are NFPA regs that allow for nonstandard colors, or required intensity of the lettering?

I'll probably just keep using my blue gel, as I generally don't have the authority to be making changes to the building in these cases. Although, most of the time I'm servicing the signs as well, as janitorial staff (public schools) don't seem to be very apt at changing the lamps as they burn out. But usually they're more than happy to provide me with the correct lamps to do it.

Red doesn't hurt night vision like green and blue do, and allows the eyes to adjust.

As to the garage door functioning as an emergency exit... it's easy to operate them without power (pull the red cord and yank up on the door!), but clearly don't have panic bars and might not function terribly well in an actual fire with that respect.

Actually, would be fairly easy to set the spring tension on the garage door for negative pressure- EG, the door naturally will open by itself, and the opener has to work to push it DOWN. But this would still require people to think clearly and be able to work up high in the room.

... From a wheelchair?

Florida has adopted ADA virtually evewhere that isn't a dwelling unit. That is the real question. When you convert a "home" to business use do you lose the "dwelling" status? I say yes and I might even extend that to the whole "model"

Usually around here (Maryland) the local jurisdiction requires either red or green. I always have the hardest time remembering, too.

The standard for backstage lighting is blue, as it doesn't stand out against the darkness quite as much. Haven't had any problems with eye adjustment, but then again our grips are in the dark/blue light for two hours or more. Actors are another story...

Interesting how garages came into this thread.
My original idea was for Commercial buildings and the like.
As they have the most foot traffic and the most amount of people that could be affected by a fire and total loss of power to the building, save the Emergency lighting system.
However, plunge any building into darkness inside and people out of instinct want to get out, in any way they can.
We had a fire in our old picture theatre here a few years back, the Emergency lighting system failed abysmally, no one got hurt but boy was it a worry turning up there and trying to get everyone out!.
The place has since been pulled down, rightfully so I say.
BTW, this is what we call a garage fire here:

It sounds like a very complex point of law as to when private becomes public/commercial.

Same as the draconian anti-smoking laws which are being implemented here to outlaw smoking in the workplace. The rules set out as to when/if a private dwelling legally becomes a workplace are complicated, illogical, and inconsistent.

Regarding the Exit Signage at "Knee Levels" (between +12" and 24" A.F.F.):

This has been a requirement in City of Los Angeles + County of Los Angeles for a long time, possibly since 1984, when the First Interstate Bank high rise Building in Downtown L.A. had a "Record Making" Fire.

That event started a completely new era for Design criteria all around, due to the numerous things which took place - vs - what could have been done originally to prevent it (I can go into details if anyone wants).

One of the requirements for Egress Signage (Exit Signs), was to include "Low Level" Signage at each Exit Doorway (exiting the Building) - one on each side of the Doorway.

The signage could be either Electrically Powered, or the "Nuclear" Signage (Self-Illuminated Exit Signs - these contain a Radioactive Element, it's either Cerium or Ytterbium...or...???)

Requirements for this Additional Signage is only in:

* Places of Assembly - single story and up,

* Health Care / Hospital / Convalescent Care - single story and up,

* "High Rise" Commercial &/or Residential - 4 stories and up.

Navy puts exit signs knee high. Of course, they also train every sailor as a firefighter, and drill them constantly, so it's a little bit of a different situation...

Scott the "nuclear" exit signs contain tritium the same as most self luminous watches and pistol/rifle sights.

Next time the customer complains about the cost you'll be able to tell him that gram for gram it is the most expensive element you can buy....multiple times more than platinum even.

As a matter of fact the U.S. government cites costs between $24,000.00 and $30,000.00 per gram for thier defense project uses of it....

Of course it is less on the free market, but not all that less....