Emergency Lighting

The emergency lights should only be lit if the power goes down on the normal system, due to loss of power for any reason. Its primary function is to enable all occupants to exit the premises safely, staying on for at least 1 or 3 hours from the incident time. But as well as the working lights, there are other compliance issues that you can check below:

Risk Assessments

Make sure you have up to date risk assessments every time you make changes to the structure or internal fabric of the building. Such as changing the use of a stockroom to a staff kitchen, or removing any office or warehouse walls, or perhaps adding partition walls which may alter the fire escape routes.

Compliance with Current Legislation

The current industry standard for emergency lighting is the code of practice, BS: EN 5266-1 which contains all the current standards and the guidelines of how to achieve them. This is usually better done for you by your local NICEIC Approved Electrical Contractor, who will be working to these standards and will be able to tell at a glance, if your premises do not comply.

Regular Testing and Maintenance

Routine regular maintenance and testing is vital to compliance and tests should be carried out during a period of low risk in accordance with the standards. If you have installed an automatic testing system, you still need to book regular maintenance inspections, even if your system says it is in working order. The battery needs testing and replacing regularly. Service contracts are available for this on a site specific bases, please contact us for details.

To comply with British Standard BS 5266-1: 2016, all your emergency lighting must have a monthly operational test.

Regulation Monthly Emergency Lighting Test

A simulated failure of all other lighting needs to take place, in order to check the proper functioning of all emergency lighting in the building. During the test, every emergency light and sign should be inspected, and recorded in a logbook, that they ate operational, clean and in proper working order.

If you have a system with one backup battery or emergency generator, there is a requirement to visually inspect this, and record it in the emergency lighting logbook, on a daily basis.

Daily Emergency Lighting Inspection

A daily visual inspection of the back-up power supply indicators, to ensure it looks to be in a ready condition. A daily operational test is not required.

In addition to this, there is a need for a full operational test every year:

Annual 3 Hour Operational Test

This must be carried out for the full rated duration of the emergency lights, which is usually a period of 3 hours. The test will only pass if all the emergency lights are still working at the end of the 3 hour test. It should, of course, be recorded in your emergency lighting log book, and any lamp or lumiere failure should be noted, along with its intended remedy; which should be carried out immediately.

There are so many different tests to perform when you have a business premises, (PAT Testing, Periodic Testing, Alarm Testing and Emergency Light Testing) and if renting instead of owning, these should be agreed as to whether the business tenant or the landlord will carry them out.

If your business premises is in Leicester or its surrounding towns, do call us for advice about any of the electrical inspections required, and as an NICEIC accredited contractor, we can also carry them out on a regular basis for you.

Whether you are a commercial Landlord, or own your own business premises, this is something that you will need to consider and make a safe decision about.

If you have one of the following types of building, you WILL need to install some emergency lighting for your escape routes:

• Any building with a complex layout
• Any building with no natural lighting at the escape routes
• Any building that accommodates vulnerable or disabled people or young children
• Any building with a lengthy escape route

For an average factory or office building, you will need to risk assess the fact that during any fire, your tenants will be distressed and in a panic. If this happens to be during the hours of darkness – which can be from 4pm during the winter months – they may also be disorientated. Especially if the mains electricity has shorted out, and the building is in darkness.

That means it is vital to ensure that any staircases and escape routes have an alternative method of lighting that will work during these emergencies, to ensure that people can get out in time.

If you would like any free advice on how this would work for your particular building, and how easy it might be to have installed, please give our expert assessors a call here at Blaby Electrical and Blaby Alarms, who will be able to advise you.