When it comes to fire and emergency measures, lighting is a key consideration and a core element of any building health and safety strategy. Required to provide illumination and heighten visibility in the event of a crisis or power cut, it plays a critical role in facilitating safe occupation and evacuation. Here, expert Chris Anderson, Technical Manager at Ansell Lighting, offers more insight, exploring specification and maintenance in more detail and the regulations surrounding it.
As one of the key building health and safety measures, emergency lighting, and its use and maintenance, is at the top of the list of duties for facilities managers. Stipulated under a wide range of standards and regulations, it is a legal requirement in all public, commercial, and high occupancy residential buildings, safeguarding the lives of occupants in the event of a fire or other power failure.
Generally speaking, emergency lighting is split into three distinct areas; escape route lighting, open area lighting (or anti‑panic lighting) and high‑risk task lighting. For escape routes, emergency exit signs and exit boxes are most commonly installed whilst in open and high‑risk task areas, emergency configured downlights, twin spots and bulkheads are the most popular options.
In order to slow the spread of fire, it is important to ensure that any downlights installed in ceilings are also fire‑rated (FRDs). FRDs restore the fire integrity of a ceiling where a hole for recessed lighting has been cut into it. Fitted with an intumescent pad which swells up when it reaches a certain temperature, FRD’s seal the hole in the ceiling in the event of a fire, providing a protective barrier to give occupants more time to escape the building.
Specified during the construction of a building, initial lighting and emergency lighting installations will be signed off and approved by Building Regulations officials as part of their overall inspection and approval process for building safety. For facilities managers, the main concern should be on maintaining this legal compliance and ensuring reliable ongoing operation.
Testing is a key procedure. Testing of an emergency lighting system should be carried out regularly, with a brief functional test at least once each month, a full duration test at least every year and a visual inspection at least once a year.
How testing is carried out largely depends on the products specified or installed. Most older installations will require a manual test but for a much quicker process, intelligent self‑test products are now available and are ideal for those upgrading legacy systems. These products perform tests automatically on a selected date each month and year, in compliance with legal regulations.
The laws and standards relating to emergency lighting in the UK include: The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, The Health and Safety at Work Act, Building Regulations, The EU Workplace Directive and Fire Safety Regulations. Keeping on top of any updates to these regulations is essential.
For example, there have been a number of changes made to British Standards in recent months that have meant existing installations and their maintenance practises need to be changed in buildings across the country.
The first is to BS EN 50172:2004 which applies to illumination specification and system testing. The revised recommendations advise that a bi‑annual test of emergency luminaires and externally illuminated escape route safety signs should be implemented in addition to existing monthly and annual tests.
The British Standard BS EN 1838:2013 has also been revised, recommending that Adaptive Emergency Escape Lighting Systems (AEELS) should now be used in all types of buildings. These highly intuitive, advanced lighting systems help guide building occupants to safety. Using sensors and monitoring devices they can detect changes in the environment, harnessing intelligent control technology to automatically modify factors such as escape route direction, the visibility of emergency signage and lighting levels on escape routes dependent on changing conditions.
