There is often confusion over which colors are allowed when choosing an Exit sign for your building. Exit sign requirements vary by state and municipality, which is why it's important to check with your Fire Marshall to see whether Green Exit Signs
or Red Exit Signs are required in your building. The information below is for general guidance, only. For many, however, it is also important to get a “sense” of any color preference – so that your building is as consistent as possible with others in your area. Even though the European Union generally uses Green
Exit Signs (Red is used to specify prohibited actions), our UL 924 standards allow either Green Exit signs or Red Exit signs. Yet, localized codes often specify one or the
other.
State Summary
Portland requires green Exit signs. A special program in Oregon provides an incentive for going "green" with energy-saving, green Oregon Exit signs. The Energy Trust Incentive first gave incentives for buildings using green LED lighting. Because of this, you will see many more green Exit signs than red ones. This incentive only lasted until 2005, but it made a huge difference in the way Life Safety systems look across the state. However, the U.S. Postal Service in Eugene, Oregon, for example, has energy-efficient red Exit signs in their premises. Now that LED signs are being replaced by even more energy-efficient photoluminescent signs, the "greening" of Oregon may not have much to do with the color of their signs!
