Evacuation Diagram Requirements in Australia: Your AS 3745 Compliance Checklist (and What to Do When One Expires)

If your workplace has people in it, you almost certainly need a compliant evacuation diagram — and if you already have one, there's a good chance it's closer to expiry than you think. Evacuation diagrams are prepared in line with AS 3745-2010 (Planning for emergencies in facilities), they carry a validity date, and they must be reviewed at least every five years. Below is the plain-English checklist of what a compliant diagram needs, how often to update it, and the two easy ways to get sorted — we create them on-site across Sydney and NSW, or you send us your existing diagram and we update it from anywhere in Australia, from $70 + GST.

Are evacuation diagrams legally required?

In practical terms, yes — for almost any workplace. Under section 43 of the NSW Work Health and Safety Regulation 2025, a business (PCBU) must prepare, maintain and implement an emergency plan. The regulation sets the duty to have a plan; it doesn't spell out the diagram itself. That's where AS 3745-2010 comes in: it's the recognised Australian standard for emergency planning in facilities, and it defines exactly what an evacuation diagram must contain. So while the law requires the plan, AS 3745 is how you demonstrate your diagrams are done properly. Most other states and territories use the same model WHS Regulations, which contain an equivalent emergency-plan duty (Victoria runs its own OHS laws), so compliant diagrams are widely expected across Australia, not just in NSW.

What must a compliant evacuation diagram include?

Under AS 3745-2010, every diagram must show, as a minimum:

• ✓The title "Evacuation Diagram"
• ✓A "You Are Here" marker at the exact point the diagram is mounted
• ✓All designated exits (shown in green)
• ✓Fire equipment — extinguishers, blankets, hose reels and hydrants (shown in red)
• ✓The assembly area location
• ✓Paths of travel to the nearest exits (a mandatory element since AS 3745 Amendment 2)
• ✓The facility's location / address (also mandatory since Amendment 2)
• ✓A legend explaining every symbol
• ✓A validity date
• ✓A north point

Two details most businesses miss: the diagram must be correctly oriented to the viewer — the direction a person faces as they read it should be at the top, so "left" on the map is their physical left — and it must be no smaller than A4 (and at least A3 once it includes optional elements like a first-aid kit, AED or fire indicator panel, which most do). A diagram printed north-up on every wall, regardless of where the reader is standing, is a common and genuinely dangerous mistake — under stress, it can send people the wrong way.

How often do evacuation diagrams need updating?

Review and update them whenever the site changes — a new layout, moved fire equipment, a different exit or assembly area — and in any case at least every five years, whichever comes first. Each time, the validity date is refreshed, which resets the five-year clock. If your diagram's validity date has passed, it's no longer considered current, and an auditor, your insurer or the fire brigade can treat it as non-compliant.

My evacuation diagram has expired — what now?

This is the most common reason businesses come to us, and it's the easiest to fix. If your site hasn't changed, updating an expired diagram is often just a clean redraw with a new validity date and fresh five-year period. If it has changed, we update the layout to match. Either way you get a new, print-ready PDF — and you don't need to be in Sydney for this: send us your existing or expired diagram and we update it remotely, Australia-wide, from $70 + GST, in about two business days.

How to get or update your evacuation diagrams

There are two ways to work with us:

Remote (Australia-wide, from $70 + GST, ~2 business days). Send us your floor plan, a markup, or your existing/expired diagram. We draw or update it and return a print-ready PDF with a new validity date. Because we work from the information you supply, you confirm it reflects your current site — exits, fire equipment and assembly area — before you mount it. For a fully site-verified diagram, choose our on-site service.

On-site, full service (Sydney & NSW, by quote, ~5–7 business days). We attend your premises, record every mounting point and the direction each reader faces, capture your exits, fire equipment and assembly area, prepare correctly oriented diagrams, then print, frame and install them. If we're already on site testing your extinguishers or exit lighting, we verify equipment locations at the same visit — one visit, one invoice.

Need compliant evacuation diagrams, or an expired one updated? See our evacuation diagrams service — on-site across Sydney & NSW, or remote from $70 + GST Australia-wide — or call 0422 742 447.

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