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Emergency lighting is installed in buildings to ensure that there is a clear indication of how to escape safely in the event of a power failure.
Normally, emergency lighting is situated down corridors, over emergency exits and in high-risk areas like power rooms, plant rooms, boiler rooms, and where there might be any emergency or high-risk equipment.
It is vital that emergency lighting is tested regularly, as in the event of a fire, or any other unexpected emergency, having reliable lighting to guide people to a suitable exit and a safe evacuation can be lifesaving.
Manual or automatic testing?
Emergency lighting has to be tested. There are two ways to do this, depending on if you have a manual emergency lighting system or an automatic emergency lighting system.
Manual emergency lighting systems must undergo monthly testing to ensure their effectiveness.
This involves putting a key into a switch, taking out the lighting and simulating a power failure to make sure that the emergency lighting illuminates properly.
This test is performed for every emergency light and documented on a monthly basis.
On an annual basis, the system is again simulated to a power failure to make sure all the emergency lighting comes on but then a tester will then also do a three hour drain down of the system to ensure the emergency lighting works for a minimum of three hours to allow time for adequate building evacuation.
With automatic systems, the testing is slightly different. With some automatic systems, the testing happens on a permanent basis but others happen automatically on a monthly basis. Some systems will also have control panels which will alert the building occupants immediately to any failures of any emergency lighting in the building.
Act now
Any failures in either type of emergency lighting system should be reported and acted upon straightaway as it is impossible to predict an emergency situation where the lighting would be needed.
Broken or faulty bulbs should be replaced and any electrical faults addressed quickly and efficiently. A failure may indicate battery degradation, faulty wiring, or inadequate illumination, all of which need urgent attention.
It is a legal requirement under The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 for buildings to have functional emergency lighting systems.
Any emergency lighting that is not regularly tested regularly is likely to be unreliable in the case of a fire or evacuation, which could be make it non-compliant, but more importantly, could put lives at risk if people were unable to safely evacuate.
For more information contact a member of our expert team today.
