When the mains fails in a building full of people, the emergency lighting is what lets them find the way out. It is required in almost every non-domestic building, it is checked by fire officers and insurers, and it is one of the most commonly neglected systems we find. We design, install, test and certify emergency lighting across Birmingham and the West Midlands, and we do the monthly and annual tests afterwards if you want them off your list.
What we do
- Design to BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838: escape route lighting, open area (anti-panic) lighting, high-risk task area lighting and the illuminated exit signs that go with them, with the spacing worked out from the manufacturer's photometric data rather than guessed.
- Installation of self-contained fittings, conversion of existing luminaires with emergency packs, and central battery systems where the building justifies one.
- Maintained and non-maintained fittings as the area requires, and exit signage to the current pictogram standard.
- Testing: the monthly function test and the annual full-duration test, recorded in the log book, with a certificate after the annual one.
- Upgrades: replacing fittings whose batteries no longer hold three hours, bringing an old installation up to the current standard after a refurbishment or a change of use.
- Self-testing systems: fittings that run their own monthly and annual tests and report a failure, which cuts the testing burden on a large or multi-site estate.
How the work runs
We walk the building with the fire risk assessment and the escape plan and mark every change of direction, every door, every stair, every fire alarm call point and every piece of fire-fighting equipment, because each of those is a point the standard says must be lit. The design is drawn, the fittings are counted, and the quotation names them. Installation in a suspended ceiling or an open industrial roof is usually quick and needs no redecoration: a self-contained fitting needs only a permanent live from the local lighting circuit. The handover includes the completion certificate, the drawing and a log book with the test dates already in it.
Testing: what the standard asks of you
BS 5266-1, through BS EN 50172, asks for a short functional test every month, to see that each fitting comes on when the supply is cut, and a full rated-duration test once a year, to see that each one stays on for its full three hours (or one hour, where that duration applies). Both are recorded. The monthly test is simple and we can show your caretaker or manager how to do it; the annual test takes the lights out of service for three hours and should be done when the building is empty or in daylight, which is why most clients ask us to do it. After the annual test you get a periodic inspection and test certificate and a list of any fittings that failed.
Standards
BS 5266-1 is the code of practice for emergency lighting in the UK; BS EN 1838 sets the light levels; BS EN 50172 sets the testing regime; BS EN 60598-2-22 is the standard the fittings themselves are made to. The legal duty comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, which requires emergency routes and exits to be lit in the event of failure of the normal lighting. Our certificates follow the model forms in BS 5266-1.
Usually done together with
A fire alarm survey, because the two systems are checked by the same people for the same reasons, and a lighting scheme, because the cheapest time to add emergency lighting is when the ceiling is already open.