GSL Lighting

For an overview of emergency lighting requirements there is no better place to go than BSI, who state:

 

In addition to the British Standards, there are other legal requirements to consider including The Building Regulations 2000, The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 and The Health & Safety (Safety Signs & Signals) Regulations 1996.

 

You also need to consider the requirements from the relevant Local Authority, who issue licenses for certain premises.

 

So your first requirement is to find a specialist; someone whose expertise and experience will save you time and ensure that the equipment specified will be fit for purpose, meeting the requirements of the relevant legislation.

 

Your specialist will help you resolve the two main design issues:

 

 

The choice of luminaires and the variety of light sources is now much greater and includes LEDs which are, in many ways, perfect for use in emergency fittings –with lamp life in excess of 50,000 hours, they are essentially maintenance free and consume only 2% of the power when compared with fluorescent lamps.

 

Designers can also select surface-mounted or recessed luminaires, interchangeable fascias ensuring that the fittings are as unobtrusive as possible. An indicator lamp on the emergency luminaire shows the status of the fitting at all times – some fittings even issue an audible alert should a malfunction occur.

 

You will need specialist advice to ensure that the fittings provide appropriate lighting levels in the required locations. So to with emergency signs, which must be provided at specific points around the building and to the appropriate British Standard.

 

Emergency luminaires are categorised as maintained or non-maintained. Maintained are on all the time; non-maintained switch on when the normal power supply fails. In both cases, when the mains power fails, the luminaire is powered by a secondary power supply, usually a battery housed in, or adjacent to, the fitting. The battery is designed to discharge over a one or three hour period and will re-charge once the normal power supply has been restored.

 

 

Emergency luminaires must be tested every month to ensure that when the mains power is interrupted, the lamp is illuminated by the secondary power supply – this is known as the function test.

 

The annual discharge test requires that emergency luminaires operate for the rated duration of one or three hours.

 

After testing, the indicator lamps should be checked to ensure that the normal supply has been restored and that the emergency luminaire is functioning properly.

 

A major consideration when designing a system will be how best to meet these testing requirements.

 

On smaller projects, testing is usually carried out by manually isolating the emergency luminaires. More advanced emergency luminaires run auto-testing routines at the required monthly intervals. These test results can be captured by a hand-held device and downloaded to a PC for analysis and storage.

 

On larger schemes where the emergency luminaires are networked, testing is initiated by a control panel, and carried out over the network. Test results are recorded and stored at the control panel.

 

The design of an emergency lighting system requires specialist expertise and experience. But this provides opportunities for creative solutions. An independent designer will bring a range of options to the client that will balance the technical requirements of the project with the aesthetics of the overall building design.