Reference & Design

Effective & Compliant Emergency Lighting & Fire Detection Solutions

Emergency lighting is a vital and effective way of helping people to escape from a building. It also highlights and identifies fire equipment and permits safety operations. Emergi-Lite offers expert assistance in Fire Alarm and Emergency Lighting scheme design to the latest standards, as a supplementary service to that provided by qualified consulting engineers and local fire authorities.

Free Expert Assistance

Our technical team provide free expert assistance in Emergency Lighting and Fire Alarm scheme design to the latest British Standards. We are able to assist you on your premises or have schemes produced on scale drawings in our design office.

Requirements & Standards

The requirement for emergency lighting originates from the Fire Precautions Act 1971 and is further enforced by the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 (Amended 1999). The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, FSO came into force in October 2006 and replaces all previous fire safety legislation.

Key considerations taken from the Fire Safety Order are:
 

• The FSO creates one simple fire safety legislative control for all work places/non-domestic premises

• Control is fire risk assessment based, with the responsibility for fire safety resting with the ‘responsible person’ for the premises

• All persons inside the building/in the vicinity who might be affected by a fire must be protected

• Employees will be required to act upon the fire risk assessment, make remedial arrangements accordingly and maintain the fire precautions

Failure to comply with the rules would be a breach of law, with the consequence of enforcement or prohibition notices being served. 

BS 5266 - A Legal Requirement

A risk assessment is a legal requirement and where a site has 5 or more employees the risk assessment must be documented. Fire certificates under the Fire Precautions Act 1971 are now no longer valid.

Guidance documents on the new Fire Safety legislation have been published and the appropriate ones must be consulted as part of the overall fire risk assessment. British Standard Codes of Practice for the emergency lighting of premises, BS 5266 Parts 1, 7 and 8, sets the guidelines for installation of emergency lighting. When designing a system the emergency lighting luminaries should conform to BS EN 60598.2.22. 

Building Regulations

Other important legislation and Regulations such as The Buildings Regulations also have a requirement for emergency lighting and must be considered as part of the design and specification. 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.

 

Product Compliance - ICEL

Using products certified to the product standard and marked with the approval of the national test house gives the installer more confidence and less risk in the work he performs.

However, CE marking alone does not necessarily imply a product will work in an emergency situation. Certified and approved emergency lighting therefore has an enhanced level of safety compared to general lighting. The Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting (ICEL) has a certification and registration scheme (ICEL 1001) for luminaries and conversion modules.

This scheme goes further than the BS EN product standard, by introducing additional requirements for performance, battery life, 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

If emergency lighting is required it should:

• 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 can be avoided

• Ensure other fire safety equipment such as fire alarm call-points and 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

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. Inevitably objects may be abandoned on the escape route and the lighting should be sufficient for people to see these and avoid them. (Escape routes 1 lux min. Permanently unobstructed 0.2 lux min).

Open Areas (Anti Panic) - When an escape route leads through an open area, then illumination of 0.5 lux minimum should be provided. This also applies to areas with undefined escape routes, in halls or areas greater than 60m2.

Exit Signs - Any point on an escape route or leading to it must have an exit sign so that direction of travel is in no doubt. 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 sign boards 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 Emergi-Lite’s Endurance, Serenga, Navigator, Silver-Lite or Corniche Ranges.

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