Emergency Lighting

The primary purpose of emergency lighting is to illuminate escape routes but it also illuminates other safety equipment

. Emergency escape lighting is activated when the electricity supply to the normal workplace lighting fails or when an automatic fire alarm is triggered. It is designed to illuminate the fire escape routes so that they can be safely used in the event of as failure of the main lighting system.

The size and type of your premises will determine the complexity of the emergency lighting system required. Borrowed lighting may be suitable in small premises where the light is from a dependable source eg street lamps. Where borrowed lighting is not suitable, then a number of torches in strategic positions can be considered. Single stand-alone escape lighting units may be sufficient in small premises and the can sometimes be combined with exit or directional signs.

In larger more complex premises a more comprehensive system of fixed automatic escape lighting is likely to be needed. This will be particularly true in premises with extensive basements or where significant numbers of staff or members of the public.

To be an effective emergency lighting system, there are a number of areas that need to be covered and these include:

- Any stairwells or floor level changes

- Fire extinguishers, fire alarm call points or any other equipment for fire fighting

- Internally and externally at exits and escape routes

- Escape signs need to be illuminated and these can usually be purchased with their own back light included.

- Any piece of machinery or equipment that must be shut down in the event of an emergency

The need for individual lighting at each point is not necessary as long as sufficient light is available overall to make the whole area safe and indicate the various items and their purpose.

Emergency escape lighting can be both maintained e.g. on all the time or non-maintained eg only operates when the normal lighting fails. Systems or individual lighting units (luminaries) are designed to operate for durations of between one and three hours. In practice, the three-hour design is the most popular and can help with maintaining limited continued use of the premises during a power failure.

If a decision is made to install emergency escape lighting, or modify an existing system, any work should be carried out with the appropriate standards.

All emergency escape lighting systems should be regularly tested and properly maintained. Most systems will need to be manually tested however some modern systems have self-testing facilities that reduce routine checks to a minimum. In most cases with manual testing, routine tests can be carried out by a single person.

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by: Nigel J Welford

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