The rules on emergency lighting have changed over recent years, affecting the various standards that apply to emergency lighting provision. These are designed to ensure the safe evacuation of people from buildings, in the event of a fire.
Whilst most emergency lighting systems will thankfully never be used in anger, they are an essential element of fire safety. In the event of a power outage, the sudden loss of light can cause panic, leading to more dangerous situations for building occupants – particularly those with impaired mobility or additional needs.
Emergency lights provide clear, illuminated paths to fire exits, helping individuals avoid obstacles and safely evacuate the premises in an emergency situation.
In places where people sleep, such as hotels, emergency escape lighting must remain illuminated for at least three hours. This is because immediate evacuation may not be possible.
In situations where rapid evacuation is feasible and quick re-occupation isn’t necessary, such as offices where there is no residential element to the building, the minimum illumination duration is one hour.
During annual tests, emergency lighting systems should be tested for the full required duration to ensure they can function for the full required period. If the lights fail to meet this duration, the backup battery or the entire unit must be replaced.
Emergency lighting systems can be powered in two main ways and there are advantages and disadvantages to both options, as follows:
– Advantages: Installation is cheaper and faster, with no need for additional hardware or additional specialised emergency lighting wiring.
– Disadvantages: The battery life is limited and will deteriorate over time and operation can be affected by local conditions, such as humidity.
– Advantages: Easier to test and maintain.
– Disadvantages: Higher initial capital costs due to greater wiring requirement.
The placement of emergency lighting is crucial; improper siting can pose significant risks. Lights and signs must be positioned to clearly illuminate escape routes and exits. According to regulations, if the final exit is not easily identifiable by occupants, an illuminated sign should be used instead of an emergency lighting luminaire.
Businesses must ensure that problem areas are correctly lit, including:
– Stairwells
– Areas with uneven floors or changes in floor level
– Toilet areas larger than 8m²
– Intersections or crossing points in corridors
While it’s not necessary to light every item on this list individually, it’s important to ensure that all areas are sufficiently illuminated to allow safe navigation out of the building from any location within it.
Most luminaire manufacturers provide specifications on how far apart lighting should be placed to ensure optimal illumination. Your fire risk assessment will highlight the specific areas in your building that require emergency lighting.
According to BS 5266 guidelines, the required brightness of emergency lighting varies depending on the location:
– Floor Level: Minimum of 1 lux
– Anti-Panic Areas: Minimum of 0.5 lux
For escape routes less than 2 metres wide, lighting should be at least 1 lux. For routes wider than 2 metres, treat them as a series of 2-metre strips, each illuminated with 1 lux over at least 50% of their width.
To put this into perspective, 1 lux is roughly equivalent to the light produced by a large domestic candle. So, while emergency lighting doesn’t need to be extremely bright, it must provide sufficient illumination to safely navigate the area.
Organisations subject to emergency lighting testing regulations must adhere to a strict servicing schedule to ensure proper functionality during emergencies. The standards BS EN 50172 and BS 5266-8 outline the minimum testing requirements, which vary based on the type of facility. Businesses must appoint a “responsible person” to manage the testing schedule.
Testing can be conducted manually or automatically:
Manual Testing: Involves physically cutting off the power supply to check if the emergency lighting operates correctly.
This needs to be logged in an emergency lighting logbook, that records the testing that a landlord/caretaker completes weekly/monthly on manual testing procedures.
The Emergency Lighting Log Book is a specific document and its role, and its contents, are defined in BS5266 Part 1: 2016, and it is necessary for premises’ operators to conform to these requirements in order to meet their legal obligations.
Automatic Testing: Utilises self-testing emergency lighting, which automatically detects and reports any issues. These can often be tested utilising software installed on your computer that automatically check the emergency lights constantly and issues a report as it fails and then a summary report either weekly or monthly.
Testing is categorised into three intervals:
– Perform a visual inspection of central power supply indicators to ensure the system is operational. (Applicable only to central battery systems.)
– BS EN 50172 / BS 5266-8 requires organisations to test all emergency lighting systems monthly. This involves checking that all luminaires and signs illuminate correctly and are clean and present.
– Conduct a quick “flick” test to ensure the emergency lighting switches on properly.
– Annual tests must verify that the lights remain on for the duration recommended by the relevant British Standard. All lights should function correctly throughout the test. Any lights that fail must be replaced.
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