Emergency Lighting is really important when it comes to the safety of a building, whether it being a workplace or home. During a power outage or emergency, it’s important that occupants can evacuate safely and the emergency lights provide illumination to the nearest exit. In the United Kingdom, the British Standard BS-5266 sets the standard for emergency lighting requirements. It provides guidelines and regulations that builders, architects and engineers require to build and create safe environments to live and work. Below, we will explain the significance of BS-5266, including the key components, types of emergency lighting systems, design considerations, testing, maintenance, compliance and more.
What is the BS 5266 standard?
The BS-5266 standard provides standards to businesses which provides essential guidelines and regulations for emergency lighting systems. Emergency lighting systems are are crucial when it comes to ensuring the safety of occupants should there be a unexpected disruptions in normal lighting. It could be a fire or power cut which has caused an issue with the lighting.
The BS-5266 guides businesses to establish effective emergency lighting systems that allow for safe and effective escape routes and critical areas, while reducing the risks of accidents, injuries or panic. Complying with essential safety regulations and implementing this standard, businesses can create a safer environment for employees, customers, and visitors.
Different Types of Emergency Lighting Systems Defined by BS 5266
BS 5266 classifies emergency lighting into various types based on their intended use and operational requirements. Knowing the distinctions between these types is essential for selecting the appropriate system for specific building spaces.
Examples include:
- Escape Route Lighting: Provides illumination along escape routes, such as corridors, stairways, and ramps.
Open Area Lighting: Illuminates large open spaces, like halls and assembly areas, to ensure safe movement toward escape routes. - Standby Lighting: Standby Lighting is intended for areas where it is necessary to maintain essential lighting levels during a power outage to prevent panic or enable safe shutdown procedures. This type of lighting can be used in critical work areas, control rooms, and other spaces where immediate darkness could pose risks.
- High-Risk Task Area Lighting: High-Risk Task Area Lighting is applied in locations where specific risks might occur during an emergency, such as in areas where hazardous processes are carried out or in places with a high likelihood of accidents. The lighting ensures that personnel can safely shut down machinery or processes.
- Escape Sign Lighting: This type of emergency lighting is focused on illuminating exit signs to clearly indicate the direction of escape routes during power failures. It helps occupants easily identify and navigate towards the nearest exits.
- Open Area Anti-Panic Lighting: Open Area Anti-Panic Lighting is installed in large, open spaces to prevent panic and confusion during emergencies. It helps occupants remain calm and find their way to escape routes efficiently.
- Emergency Safety Lighting for Standby Lighting: Emergency Safety Lighting for Standby Lighting is used to illuminate areas with standby lighting systems during a power failure. It ensures that the standby lighting itself remains visible and functional during an emergency.
The Requirements
Each component of emergency lighting is important when it comes to complying with the standard and ensuring effective emergency lighting systems. Where you place your emergency lighting really does matter. If the siting of lighting is incorrect, it can lead to significant risks.
Where should Emergency Lights be placed?
Emergency lights and signs should be positioned that clearly illuminates escape routes and exits from your premises. Regulations state that you should use an illuminated sign to direct you the correct way instead of an emergency lighting luminaire when occupants can’t visually see the final exit.
There are some problem areas that you should ensure are correctly illuminated too. These could include:
- Stairwells
- Toilet areas
- Places within a building where the floor level changes, ie a step or ramp
- Intersections in corridors
- Direction change in the escape route
You don’t have to provide lights for every item in this list, but you should ensure that all areas receive sufficient lighting for people to navigate their way out of the building.
Escape Routes
Emergency lighting must be positioned to provide sufficient illumination to allow safe movement towards the nearest exit so they should be installed along designated escape routes, such as corridors, stairways, and exits.
Fire Alarm
Fire alarm call points should be seen at all times, therefore the emergency lighting must be sufficient enough to show occupants exactly where each call point up fire alarm call points to ensure they are easily visible and accessible during an emergency.
Exit Signs Visibility
Exit signage should be visual, therefore it should be illuminated, strategically placed, easy to read and recognise to ensure that an evacuation is a quick and efficient as possible.
Level or Direction
Should there be any change in direction or level in any building, they must be highlighted with emergency lighting. This reduces the risk and highlights any hazards.
Intersection Points
Emergency lighting should provide clear and visible directions to different exits when multiple escape routes meet.
Minimum Number of Lights
The size of the building, layout and how many people occupy the building determines the number of emergency lights required. A risk assessment should be completed by a competent person to specify the number of emergency lights required.
Battery Backup
Emergency lighting systems must have the capability of being lit for up to 3 hours, depending on the building’s use and occupancy. The internal battery on the individual emergency light should hold the charge to last this amount of time to ensure all occupants have enough time to evacuate.
Maintenance and Testing
Regular testing and maintenance of the emergency lights are essential. This is to ensure that the system is functionality and reliable. Monthly functional (flick) testing should be completed and a full-duration test should be completed by a competent engineer every 12 months. These tests will reveal any faults within the system.
Please note – regulations and standards can updated over time. Refer to the latest version of BS 5266 and consult with qualified professionals to ensure compliance with current requirements.
How long does emergency lighting need to stay on for?
Emergency lights, whether it be luminaires or signs, must be able to remain lit for a minimum duration of 3 hours for premises that you cannot evacuate immediately, such as places where people sleep, like hotels.
The minimum time for illumination falls to one hour in situations where you can evacuate the premises rapidly and don’t need to re-occupy the premises right away.
Organisations should have their lights tested annually for the full test duration to ensure that they can provide emergency lighting for the required period. If they cannot, then the backup battery or replacement of the lights is required.
How is emergency lighting serviced and tested?
Organisations or premises that fall under emergency lighting testing regulations need to follow a servicing schedule. This is to ensure that the emergency lighting will perform correctly in the event of an emergency.
BS EN 50172 / BS 5266-8 discuss the minimum levels of testing provisions, depending on the type of premises. Businesses need to appoint a “responsible person” to oversee the schedule and conduct the testing.
Organisations can conduct either manual or automatic tests.
Manual tests require cutting off the power supply to see whether the emergency lighting systems operate as intended. Automatic testing require a special variety of lighting called self-testing emergency lightning. This type of lighting will tell you if there’s a problem.
How often is it serviced and tested?
Testing is split into three categories:
Daily: You are required to visually inspecting central power supply indicators to make sure the system is fully operational. However, this only applies to systems powered by a central battery.
Monthly: BS EN 50172 / BS 5266-8 dictate that organisations must test all emergency lighting systems monthly. Emergency lighting signage regulations require all luminaries and signs to illuminate, to be clean and present. Don’t forget to report any faults and to log your testing once it’s been completed.
The monthly test will be a quick ‘flick’ test just to ensure that the emergency lighting switches on correctly.
Annually: Annual tests need to check that lights remain on for the test duration recommended by the relevant British Standard. All lights need to continue functioning correctly at the end of the test and those that don’t require replacement.
Need more help?
If your business is unsure or struggling with emergency lighting regulations and compliancy, then Absolut Security can help. Our engineers can provide consultations and offer advice on how you can better comply with the law and keep your staff safe.
We hope this guide has been useful but if you have any questions at all, please give our friendly team a call on 01733 304029 or get in touch via the contact form below and we’ll be happy to help.
