Emergency Lighting Regulations

The Building Regulations 2000

These regulations detail the design and construction characteristics of a

building. Approved Document B details the fire safety requirements for new
buildings and the major refurbishment of existing premises. Table 9 of this
document shows the locations that must be provided with emergency lighting.
It now defines that in addition to escape routes, all open areas larger than
60m² must be illuminated in the event of the failure of the normal lighting
supply.

It also clarifies that emergency lighting is needed for all parts of
schools that either do not have natural light or are used outside normal school
hours. The regulations require that systems comply with BS 5266-1, the code
of practice for emergency lighting.
The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997

This directive controls the way that the building will be used and the

equipment and systems needed to safeguard the occupants. The legal
requirement is that - “Emergency routes and exits requiring illumination must
be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in case the lighting
fails”. The law is explained and the rules for compliance are given in a joint
Home Office and Health & Safety Executive document - “FIRE SAFETY - An
employer’s guide”. Main points from the guide are:

• The employer has legal responsibility for compliance

• Although the legislation uses and modifies the Fire Precautions Act

1971, it now covers all premises where people are employed

• Any site with five or more employees must keep a formal record of Fire

Risk Assessment. This should evaluate the site and detail the
measures taken to ensure the safety of the premises

• If the premises already have a fire certificate to the latest standards the

employer still needs to provide a risk assessment, but it is unlikely that
they will need any additional equipment. If however the fire certificate
was issued prior to 1999, when BS 5266-1 was revised, the risk
assessment needs to check whether improvements are needed to
meet the latest standard

• The evaluation of areas with a fire risk assists when deciding which

areas need protection, e.g. a school chemical laboratory may be
smaller than 60m² but still need emergency lighting, as combustible
materials and sources of ignition would be present.

• The assessment of the location of employees and any visitors to the

site assist in determining the most appropriate escape routes.

• The guidance to the directive gives detailed requirements for the

suitability of escape routes and calls for the installation of emergency

lighting to be in accordance with BS 5266-1

• It recommends that advice on the installation should be given by a

competent person who specialises in emergency lighting systems.

• Continued maintenance and testing must be correctly carried out, to

comply with the directive.

• The equipment used must be capable of being demonstrated as of

adequate quality. Compliance with the appropriate British Standard, or
other approved third party scheme, gives evidence of this. The
standard for luminaries is BS EN 60598-2-22. ICEL 1001 registration
endorses the spacing data of these luminaries. The standard for central
battery systems is BS EN 50171

Note: When the premises are being assessed for risk, shortcomings in other

areas of fire protection can be compensated for by improved levels of
emergency lighting and fire alarms.

Compliance with BS5266-1:1999 is deemed to comply with these

requirements

The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations 1996

This regulation requires the adequate provision of signs protected by

emergency lighting. It details that signs should be located at all final exits and
also on the escape routes at any location where the route may be in doubt.

Other Requirements

In addition to fire safety legislation, some workplaces require a licence from

the Local Authority, including theatres and cinemas, sport stadiums and
premises for public entertainment, music, dancing, gambling and the sale of
alcohol. Other premises must be registered with the Local Authority and be
inspected by the Fire Authority, including nursing homes, children's homes,
residential care homes and independent schools. Both licensed and
registered premises have to pass a fire inspection to confirm that they have
systems complying with BS 5266-1 for the emergency lighting and BS 5839
for fire equipment. Records of a system are now essential to maintain the

validity of approvals and licences.

Emergency Lighting - System Design

This section provides guidance on system design to meet BS 5266 Parts 1

and 7: 1999 and so achieve compliance with legislation.

Design Objective

BS 5266, when referring to the provision of Escape Lighting in section 4.2,

requires that when the supply to all or part of the normal lighting in occupied
premises fails, escape lighting is required to fulfil the following function:

(a) To indicate clearly and unambiguously the escape routes.

(b) To provide illumination along such routes to allow safe movement towards

and through the exits provided.

(c) To ensure that fire alarm call points and fire fighting equipment provided

along escape routes can be readily located.

(d) To permit operations concerned with safety measures.

BS 5266-1 recommends that discussions should be held prior to commencing
the design, to establish the areas to be covered, the method of operation, the
testing regime and the most suitable type of system. These discussions
should include the owner or occupier of the premises, the system designer,
the installer, the supplier of the equipment and the fire authority.

Note: BS5266 will be revised during 2004 following the publication of

EN50172. Visit the British Standards Institute website, at

www.bsi-global.com

for the latest information.

TESTING AND LOG BOOK

The Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 require that appropriate

testing is performed to maintain compliance of the system. The system should
include adequate facilities for testing and recording the system condition.

These need to be appropriate for the specific site and should be considered

as part of the system design. Discussions with the user or system designer
should identify:

- The calibre and reliability of staff available to do the testing

- The level of difficulty in performing the test

- If discharge tests need to be done outside normal working hours, or phased

so only alternate luminaires are tested in buildings that are permanently
occupied

The testing requirements in the code of practice are:

• Function test

All emergency luminaires should be tested be breaking the supply to them
and checking that they operate satisfactorily.
The supply must then be restored and the charging indicators must be seen to
be operating correctly. This test must be performed at least once per month
and the results logged

• Discharge test

The luminaires must be tested for their full rated duration period and checked

for satisfactory operation. The supply must then be restored and the charging
indicators rechecked. This test must be performed at least annually and the
results logged

Note: BS 5266-1: 1999 allows a one hour test to be performed as an

alternative every six months for the first 3 years of the system, but the
guidance document to the Fire Precaution Regulations calls for the annual
test at all stages of equipment life.

MANUAL TESTING

If manual testing is utilised, the following points should be considered:

• Is a single switch to be used? Unless the whole building is to be

switched off, a separate switch should be used for each final circuit. As
the feed to non-maintained circuits must be taken from the switch this
will probably mean that the building will have to be walked around
twice, once to check the luminaires and once to check that they are
recharging

• Are luminaires to be individually switched? In practice, only a single

walk around the building will be needed. However, the test switches
could spoil the décor of the building and they must be of a type that is
tamper proof.

• After the tests, the performance of the luminaires must be logged.

COMMISSIONING CERTIFICATE

BS5266 Pt 1: 1999 and the European Standard both require written

declarations of compliance to be available on site for inspection. These
consist of:

• Installation quality.

IEE regulations must have been conformed with and non-maintained
fittings fed from the final circuit of the normal lighting in each, as
required in BS 5266

• Photometric performance.

Evidence of compliance with light levels has to be supplied by the
system designer. Photometric tests for Cooper Lighting and Security
luminaires are performed at BSI and spacing data is registered by the
ICEL scheme. Therefore copies of the spacing data in this catalogue
provide the verification required.

• Declaration of a satisfactory test of operation.

A log of all system tests and results must be maintained. System log
books, with commissioning forms, testing forms and instructions are
available from Cooper Lighting and Security.

MAINTENANCE

Finally, to ensure that the system remains at full operational status, essential

servicing should be defined. This normally would be performed as part of the
testing routine, but in the case of consumable items such as replacement
lamps, spares should be provided for immediate use.