Emergi-Lite - Emergency Lighting Requirement & Standards

Emergency Lighting Requirements - Standard Specifications - Testing - Maintenance

Emergency lighting is vital to help people escape from a building when necessary. It highlights the escape route and essential fire equipment en route permitting safe evacuation. Emergi-Lite Safety Systems will now discuss requirements for designing emergency lighting systems.

Requirements & Standards

The requirement for emergency lighting originates from the Fire Precautions Act 1971. This was further enforced by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 and amended in 1999. This and other related documents introduced the concept of ‘Risk Assessment’. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, Statutory Instrument 2005 no. 1541 became law on 1st October 2006. From October 2006, ‘Fire Risk Assessment’ is the responsibility of the building owner, user, or occupier/employer superseding the existing Fire Certificate regime.

The risk assessment is a multi-stage process, which guides the assessor or ‘competent person’ in identifying the risk and the need for fire precautions, to reducing those risks down to acceptable levels. In reducing those risks, the need for emergency lighting is established. Once a decision is taken to install emergency lighting in premises then BS 5266 Parts 1, 7, 8 and 10 should be followed. When designing a system the emergency lighting luminaires should conform to the harmonised British and European product standard BS EN 60598-2-22. Certified products show a compliance with good quality and safety.

Internally illuminated exit signs should also comply with the product standard. The format of the legends should comply with the Health and Safety ‘Safety signs and signals’ regulations 1996, or the European Signs Directive.

An installer will have more confidence and be less at risk with the work performed, by using products certified to the product standard and marked with the approval of the national test house.

CE marking alone does not imply a product will work in an emergency situation. Certified and approved emergency lighting has an enhanced level of safety compared to general lighting, which is only required to be ‘safe in use’. ‘Safe in use’ in the general lighting context, means that it is neither an electric shock nor a fire hazard and that non-operation of the fitting would be an inconvenience. In the emergency sense ‘non-operation’ of an emergency luminaire is a safety hazard.

The Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL) has a certification and registration scheme for luminaires and conversion modules. The ICEL 1001 scheme goes further than the BS EN product standard, by introducing additional requirements for performance, battery or component life and fire retardancy. In using ICEL registered product, the competent person or installer can be further assured that the product is safe and will work in an emergency for many years.

General Requirements for Emergency Lighting

BS 5266 Parts 1, 7, 8 & 10
Emergency lighting must:

• Indicate the escape routes clearly with exit signs so there is no doubt which is the way out
• Illuminate open areas used in an escape route so that obstacles such as equipment or furniture can be avoided
• Ensure fire alarm call points & fire-fighting equipment can be readily located
• Provide illumination for high-risk areas to allow machinery processes to be shut down safely
• Guides on light levels & response time for specific locations

Exit Signs

Any point on, or leading to, an escape route must have an exit sign so that there is no ambiguity in the direction of escape. BS 5499 format pictograms and European format pictograms are acceptable within the UK Signs and Signal Regulations. Text only signs are obsolete and must be replaced. Exit signboards can be used, providing that an adjacent emergency luminaire illuminates the board adequately. A more effective way of emphasising the way out is to use internally illuminated exit signs, such as the Emergi-Lite Serenga, Aqualux, Horizon, Silver-Lite, Silver-Scape or Navigator Ranges.

Escape Routes

It is essential that people can move safely along an escape route in an emergency. There are often minor hazards such as steps that should be illuminated. It is not unusual for an object (trolleys, boxes, suitcases) to be left on the escape route, in which case the lighting should be sufficient [a minimum of 1 lux on the escape route] for people to see the obstruction and avoid it.

Open Areas

Where an escape route leads through an open area, then illumination of 0.5 Lux minimum should be provided.

Points of Emphasis

The following places have been identified at which emergency luminaires should be located:

• Near stairs
• Near changes of level
• Near changes of direction
• Near the intersection of corridors
• Near an exit door
• Near each piece of fire-fighting equipment or manual call points
• Near each first aid point

(Near is defined as being within 2 m)

Additional Areas & High Risk

Certain areas are not part of the escape route but still require illumination if people could be located there. This includes: Lifts, escalators, moving walkways, toilets larger than 8 m², toilets smaller than 8 m² without borrowed light, disabled toilets, small lobbies, motor and plant rooms and pedestrian routes within covered car parks. Other additional areas, which require special attention, are high-risk task areas, places of entertainment and open areas greater than 60 m².

Stand-by Lighting

If stand-by lighting is used as emergency lighting it should conform to all the requirements of emergency lighting.

Mounting Heights

Emergency luminaires should be mounted at least 2 m above the floor. There is no upper limit but luminaires should be fitted below smoke level if there is a significant risk of floor illumination being affected. In high-risk smoke areas low-level way finding to BS 5266 Part 2 can be installed in addition to overhead emergency lighting.

Luminaire Failure

The possibility of emergency luminaire failure should always be considered in the scheme design. A minimum of 2 luminaires should be allowed for in each lighting compartment.

Luminaires & Emergency Lighting Systems

A varied range of emergency lighting is available to suit different budgets, decors, building requirements, colours and specifications. Emergi-Lite Safety Systems can help the Specifier with the selection or possibly consider a special luminaire to a particular requirement.

Types of Emergency Lighting

• Self-contained: Each luminaire contains a battery & is a micro-system in itself
• Slave: Luminaires that are powered from a central battery AC/AC or AC/DC system
• Conversions: Most mains fluorescent luminaires can be converted for emergency use. Emergi-Lite has specialist conversion centres for this purpose. Emergi-Lite Morley is 3rd party certified to ICEL-1004

Categories of Emergency Lighting

• Non-maintained (NM): Luminaires operate when the mains fail
• Maintained (M): Luminaires operate when the mains fail, but can also be operated if required using a switch when the mains are healthy
• Combined non-maintained: The luminaire has more than one lamp, one illuminates when the mains is healthy, the other in emergency when the mains fails
• Combined maintained: Both lamps operate when the mains is healthy, on lamp operates in emergency

Testing & Maintenance of Emergency Lighting

To be effective it is essential that Emergency Lighting is regularly tested and a maintenance procedure is set in place to current British Standards BS 5266 Part 1:2005 and BS 5266 Part 8:2004 (EN 50172).

Semi-Automatic Testing

Semi-automatic testing systems are available that can initiate a test to verify the correct operation required in the prescribed monthly and annual tests. The Emergi-Lite remote infra-red test system (IR2) is simple to use and enables the user to control and observe tests or download and store data for assessment later on a PC.

Fully Automatic Testing

Fully automatic testing can be achieved using ‘Centrel’ addressable type systems. Each luminaire is given an address. A central control unit then communicates to each emergency luminaire via an extra two-core data cable and programs automatic testing schedules.