Why is Emergency Lighting Testing Important?
Emergency lighting testing: your complete guide to ensuring safety during power outages and emergencies. In this guide, we’ll explore the importance of emergency lighting testing, key regulations, and step-by-step procedures to help you maintain compliance and protect your premises.
Thorough servicing and maintenance of your emergency lighting system ensure that should the unfortunate occur and it is needed, the system performs as designed. Your emergency lighting forms part of your building’s overall fire strategy, and for that strategy to work properly, all parts of it need to be fully operational.
How Often Should Emergency Lighting Be Tested?
Daily, monthly and yearly.
- Your daily checks should include keeping a general eye on your fittings. Are they functioning in their standby mode, and can the charging indicator be seen?
- Once a month, the emergency lights should be isolated from the electrical supply in order to check that they ‘changeover’ to emergency or battery-operated mode, and then back again. A record of this should be made in your logbook.
- Once yearly, the system should be put into battery mode and left for the length of the emergency design period, usually 1-3 hours. A record of this test should be made in your logbook, and any failures should be noted down and repaired or replaced as soon as possible. Your maintenance company should provide you with an emergency lighting test certificate for this as well.
Emergency Lighting Testing Requirements and Standards
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order) 2005 requires emergency lighting to be installed in commercial premises, to illumination levels specified in BS EN 1838. BS 5266-1:2016 is the standard for the design, installation commissioning and maintenance of emergency lighting, and is where we get the basic guidance for our daily, monthly and yearly checks. The UK and Europe are quite often aligned in this regard.
Common Problems in Emergency Lighting Systems
Believe it or not, a great many emergency lighting systems are non-compliant when all standards and manufacturers’ guidance are considered. Some common issues we’ve found when ‘taking over’ an existing installation are;
- Bulkhead fittings are installed in the wrong plane.
- The little rectangular emergency lights that are probably most commonly installed radiate most of their light along the length of their diffuser so should be perpendicular to the path they are installed along.
- Important equipment hasn’t been considered.
- When escaping we may require a fire extinguisher to clear a path, but if there isn’t an emergency light above them, how would you find your extinguisher in the dark? Similarly one might need to inspect a fuse board or fire alarm panel in emergency circumstances, and these too should be well-illuminated.
- Is your policy in a fire or emergency event to stay put? Then you might have the wrong emergency lighting.
- In a ‘stay put’ policy environment, your emergency light fitting is supposed to be of the ‘self-test’ type!
How to Maintain and troubleshoot Emergency Lighting
Engage the services of a competent emergency lighting maintenance company, such as Pretty Wired. It is important to have a full understanding of the reasoning behind your emergency lighting system, how it is supposed to operate, and how it fits into the larger picture of your fire safety management systems. Regular maintenance, mindfulness and record-keeping are key.
Professional Services for Emergency Lighting Testing
To find out more or to schedule an emergency lighting inspection today, contact Pretty Wired on 020 4542 1890, email us at info@prettywired.co.uk or send us a message here.
