Lighting Compliance.
Guaranteed.

Emergency lighting ensures that occupants can evacuate safely when the normal lighting supply fails. Its purpose is to prevent sudden darkness, illuminate escape routes, reduce panic in large areas, and help people reach final exits and external assembly points safely. It also enables the safe shutdown of high-risk tasks such as machinery or lab work.

Emergency lighting is divided into four categories:

• Escape route lighting for corridors, stairs and final exits.
• Open-area (anti-panic) lighting for larger rooms where occupants need orientation.
• High-risk task area lighting for workshops, labs or kitchens where sudden darkness would be dangerous.
• Standby lighting, used rarely in schools, allows normal activities to continue during power failure.

Emergency lighting systems typically operate for 1 hour or 3 hours. Most schools and workplaces require 3 hours, as it supports late evacuations, allows for fire service re-entry, and avoids the risk of inadequate battery recharge between incidents.

Lighting in workplaces and schools sits on a foundational legal framework that includes:

• Health and Safety at Work Act 1974
• Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
• Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
• Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999
• Education-specific environmental duties

These laws define the obligation to provide “suitable and sufficient lighting” and safe evacuation conditions.

Emergency lighting design and compliance commonly reference:

• BS EN 1838 – emergency illuminance and application requirements
• BS EN 50172 – system design, testing and maintenance
• BS EN 60598-2-22 – emergency luminaire product safety
• BS EN 60598-1 – general luminaire safety

These standards complement fire-safety legislation by describing how to achieve compliant installations.

Luminaires must ensure continuous visibility along escape paths. Best practice includes lighting:

• every change of direction
• intersections and corridor junctions
• stair treads and landings
• final exit doors

Positioning must avoid shadows and provide a clear visual sequence guiding occupants toward exits.

Escape route lighting focuses on guiding occupants along defined corridors toward exits. Open-area lighting prevents panic in large spaces where escape routes are not obvious, ensuring people can orient themselves and move safely toward an exit.

High-risk areas contain equipment or processes that become hazardous during a lighting failure. Emergency lighting must provide higher illuminance and immediate activation to allow safe shutdown of machinery, lab experiments, or kitchen operations.

Two routine tests are required:

• Monthly functional test – brief activation of each luminaire to confirm operation.
• Annual full-duration test – 1 or 3-hour discharge to confirm battery performance.

All tests must be recorded in an emergency lighting logbook.

The logbook demonstrates compliance and records: monthly and annual tests, defects and corrective actions, luminaire locations, and installation and commissioning details. Without this documentation, the system cannot be proven compliant during fire safety inspections.

Self-test luminaires automatically perform monthly and annual checks, reporting faults via LEDs. Central battery systems use a remote battery bank supplying all emergency luminaires, enabling easier maintenance and long-term performance consistency but requiring fire-protected cabling.

Illuminance is the amount of light reaching a surface, measured in lux. Correct illuminance ensures tasks—such as reading, writing, machine operation, or evacuation—can be performed safely and comfortably.

Glare occurs when a light source is excessively bright relative to its surroundings. It is managed through optical design, shielding, diffuser selection, and controlling Unified Glare Rating (UGR).

LED flicker—often caused by poor-quality drivers—can trigger headaches or sensory overload, particularly in children with neurological sensitivities. High-quality drivers are essential in classrooms and SEN environments.

Classroom lighting must deliver: sufficient illuminance on desks, glare-free lighting on teaching walls and interactive screens, balanced brightness across the room, natural modelling on faces for communication, and integration with daylight.

Common issues include: dark areas where luminaires were poorly positioned, degraded batteries failing duration tests, missing or incomplete logbooks, incorrect signage, dirt accumulation reducing illuminance, and changes to room layout blocking previously compliant lighting.