Emergency Light Maintenance
What is emergency lighting?
Lighting that automatically comes on when the power supply to the normal lighting provision fails.
Emergency lighting is a general term and is sub-divided into emergency escape lighting and standby lighting.
- Emergency escape lighting – that part of an emergency lighting system that provides illumination for the safety of people leaving a location or attempting to terminate a potentially dangerous process beforehand. It is part of the fire safety provision of a building and a requirement of The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.
- Standby lighting- that part of an emergency lighting system provided to enable normal activities to continue substantially unchanged. This guide does not include standby lighting as it is not a legal requirement and is a facility that may or may not be needed, depending on the use and occupancy of the premises, etc.
Emergency escape lighting is itself sub-divided into escape route lighting, open area lighting and high risk task area lighting.
Escape route lighting – that part of an emergency escape lighting system provided to ensure that the means of escape can be effectively identified and safely used by occupants of the building.
Why Should Emergency Lights be Tested?
It is important to ensure emergency lights are maintained and tested in accordance with BS5266 to ensure that they will operate correctly in the event of an emergency. If left untested emergency lights will develop faults that may go unnoticed as they are often not illuminated unless there is a disruption to the power and faults go unnoticed.
How Often Should Emergency Lights be Tested?
Emergency lights should be tested by the Responsible Person (User) every month to ensure that they operate correctly. They should also undergo a full duration discharge test annually
Emergency lights when in standby mode are being charged by the mains electricity and very much like a laptop or tablet battery will ware out very quickly when left on charge continuously, that is why it is important to perform a full duration test at least once a year to prolong the life of the battery packs in each emergency light.
How can M-Fire Help?
M-Fire can arrange annual service visits to perform the full duration discharge test in accordance with BS5266 at a time to suite you.
Our Engineers carry a comprehensive range of spare parts and even replacement fittings in the event of faults being discovered during the test and can replace batteries, lamps and even replace entire fittings if necessary to ensure that your emergency lights remain in top condition at all times.
For a free no obligation quotation on Emergency Light Maintenance, please Contact Us today.
