Emergency Lighting

Emergency lighting lights the way out when normal lighting fails. It has three jobs: escape route lighting along corridors, stairs and to final exits; open-area (anti-panic) lighting in large rooms so people can reach a route; and high-risk task lighting where a process must be shut down safely. Exit signs, lit at all times or photoluminescent, show the direction to exits. It is a life-safety system with prescribed design, testing and record-keeping in all three jurisdictions.

Fittings must be placed at every exit door, every change of direction and intersection, on every stair flight, near fire alarm call points and fire-fighting equipment, and outside final exits, with enough light along the route. Fittings must also sense the failure of the local lighting circuit they serve: a fitting wired to a different circuit will not come on when the lights around it fail.

Era tells you the likely state. Fluorescent self-contained fittings with nickel-cadmium batteries dominate installations of the 1980s to 2000s and are at end of life; LED fittings with nickel-metal hydride or lithium iron phosphate batteries are the current generation, often with self-test.

What shortens life:

• Heat: fittings in hot ceiling spaces, near plant or in roof spaces lose battery life fastest.
• Missed testing: batteries never discharged lose capacity unnoticed.
• Fit-outs that disconnect fittings, rewire them to the wrong circuits, or hide them behind new partitions.
• Damage in car parks, plant rooms and stairs.

Battery capacity loss

Batteries are the commonest failure. They lose capacity with age and heat until the fitting cannot run for its rated duration: typically 90 minutes in Australia and the United States, and often three hours in Britain where premises may be re-occupied straight after a failure. A fitting that lights on a quick switch test can fail a full-duration test, which is why the duration test is required.

Charger and lamp failure

Chargers fail and leave batteries flat; fluorescent tubes and early LED modules fail; indicators fail so faults are not seen.

Wiring faults from alterations

Non-maintained fittings must be fed from the same unswitched circuit as the normal lighting in that area so that they detect its failure. Fit-outs often rewire them to another circuit or to a switched supply; the fitting then stays dark when the local lights fail, or drains its battery every time the lights are switched off.

Coverage gaps

New partitions create corridors, dead ends and changes of direction the original layout did not cover; exit signs end up pointing to doors that no longer lead out, or are hidden behind signage and joinery.

Central battery failures

Central battery systems fail as one: a battery, inverter or changeover fault darkens a whole area. Sub-circuit monitoring must detect local lighting failures, and wiring to fittings must be fire-resisting so it survives long enough to be useful.

Silent monitoring failures

Self-test and addressable systems only help if someone reads their reports. Communication faults, unsupported software and disabled schedules leave a building believing it is tested when it is not.

Photoluminescent limitations

Photoluminescent signs need enough normal light to charge; in dim stairs and plant areas they may not glow brightly enough when needed.

On site

• Charge indicators off on fittings; exit signs unlit or dim.
• Fittings damaged, missing, painted over or hidden by fit-out.
• Escape routes, stairs, changes of direction and final exits without fittings.
• Exit signs pointing the wrong way, or to doors now locked or removed.
• Test labels and dates on fittings; key switches for testing.
• Central battery room: temperature, battery condition, alarms.

In the records

• Test logbook with each fitting, its result and date.
• Annual fire safety statement or essential safety measures report.
• Monitoring system reports and fault lists.
• Battery replacement records.
• Emergency lighting layout drawings against the current fit-out.

Findings are graded by what they demand: safety (can hurt someone now), failure (failed and damaging the building), condition (distress present and progressing), lifecycle (renewal due on age and exposure), deadline (a regulator or ordinance sets the date), check (investigate before sizing works) and nil (cosmetic or stable).

An electrical contractor licensed for fire safety systems carries out testing; a lighting designer or fire engineer reviews coverage where layouts have changed.

• Full-duration test of every fitting by simulating failure of the normal supply, recording each result.
• Circuit check that each non-maintained fitting is fed from the local lighting circuit it protects.
• Coverage survey against the current layout: every exit, change of direction, stair flight, call point and final exit; light levels along routes where doubtful.
• Exit sign review: visibility, direction, legibility, correct pictograms.
• Central battery inspection: batteries, charger, inverter, changeover, sub-circuit monitoring, room ventilation and temperature, fire-resisting wiring.
• Monitoring check: manual test of a sample against what the system reports.
• Records review: logbooks, annual statements, battery dates.

The report should list every fitting with its result, coverage gaps, wiring faults, and the works needed to certify the system.

• Battery replacement programme: replace all batteries of an age together rather than fitting by fitting.
• Fitting replacement with LED fittings and long-life batteries, which cuts energy and maintenance.
• Self-test or addressable monitoring, so testing is automatic and faults are reported, with someone responsible for reading the reports.
• Rewiring of fittings fed from the wrong circuits.
• Coverage additions after fit-outs, designed to the standard.
• Exit sign updates to current pictograms and positions.
• Central battery refurbishment: batteries, chargers, monitoring, or replacement with distributed fittings.

• Records: a logbook or digital record for every fitting, with test dates, results and actions.
• Escape route lighting design verified by measurement after major fit-outs.

Testing is a recurring contract at the prescribed interval. Battery replacement is priced per fitting and recurs on battery life. Fitting replacement is priced per fitting, with ceiling access in occupied areas. Monitoring systems are priced per fitting plus a panel. Coverage additions are per fitting with design. Central battery refurbishment is a lump sum.

Testing and safety rectification are code compliance; battery replacement is repairs and maintenance on a cycle; fitting replacement is lifecycle.

• Australia. The National Construction Code requires emergency lighting and exit signs (Part E4); AS/NZS 2293.1 covers design, AS/NZS 2293.3 luminaires and exit signs, and AS/NZS 2293.2 inspection and maintenance, including a six-monthly discharge test for at least the rated duration. Emergency lighting is an essential safety measure under state building regulations, certified annually.
• United Kingdom. BS 5266-1 sets the code of practice, with BS EN 1838 for lighting levels and BS EN 50172 for systems: monthly functional tests and an annual full-duration test, with a logbook. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 places the duty on the responsible person.
• United States. NFPA 101 Section 7.9 requires emergency lighting with monthly 30-second tests and an annual 90-minute test, or approved self-testing equipment; Section 7.10 covers exit marking; UL 924 lists equipment; the International Building and Fire Codes adopt equivalent requirements.

• Emergency lighting test logbook with every fitting and result.
• Annual fire safety statement or essential safety measures report.
• Monitoring system reports and fault history.
• Battery replacement records and dates.
• Emergency lighting and exit sign layout drawings.
• Fit-out records since the last layout review.

• Monitoring system access and reports.