Do I really need emergency lighting?

[Guest Hello Anthony, thank you f]

Hello Anthony

Thank you for the reply. That's very helpful. Much appreciated.

 

Kaye

[Guest Yvonne]

Hi 

The company I work for have a 25m x 10m maintenance shed with a roller shutter at either end and two fire doors on the two longer walls.  We have only a small amount of mains power which is just sufficient to run the security alarm on, so we are having a generator for powering sockets etc. The generator will not be running all the time.  

1.  Do we legally have to have emergency lighting above the fire doors?

2.  If so can you recommend an alternative that is purely battery operated?

 

Many thanks

 

Yvonne 

[Tom Sutton]

You need a survey to ascertain if you need emergence lighting and the type of E/lighting required, emergency torches may be acceptable. 

[green-foam]

On 14/09/2021 at 14:02, Guest Yvonne said:

We have only a small amount of mains power which is just sufficient to run the security alarm on,

Are you sure? To operate any electric doors, a crane, conveyor belt etc does require a lot of energy several Amps so yes a generator may be required in your case. (It may even need 3 phase) but an average emergency light only uses 11milliAmps

11mA is around 2.6 watts, the lamp in my fridge is 5 watts (Yes, almost twice as much) I would be very surprised if the supply you have can not run a few emergency lights.

You may be able to use torches, but I would have to ask, if there was a powercut, how would anyone find a torch?* There is such a thing as a "plug in torch" that you plug into a normal socket, when there is a powercut the torch comes on, but you would need to have conveniently placed sockets installed.

"plug in torches" for commercial use cost close to £50 each, 3 hour duration emergency lights cost less than 1/2 of that.

 

 

*It has been shown that if personnel carried a torch all the time "just in case" after a short while the torches would get lost, flat batteries or just forgotten about.

[Guest Frank]

If the ‘main’ light is switched off on an external emergency exit route of a residential property, and the ‘emergency’ light does not come on, meaning the area is in complete darkness, is this a breach of any regulations?

-There are no risk assessments in this area.

-The ‘main’ light could’ve been turned on if the visitor looked for it.

 

 

[Tom Sutton]

Where is the main switches for the main light located, the emergency lights will only come on if the power supply to the main light fails.

[Guest Guest Jim]

I work in a residential training centre with 13 bedrooms. We have Emergency Lights and Signage on all escape routes from the buildings (1 x 3 bedroom, 1 x 6 bedroom and 1 x 4 bedroom). An electrician who was carrying out PAT testing on the premises recently expressed surprise that we don't have Emergency Lights in the bedrooms and quoted BS5266, "at each exit door intended to be used in an emergency".

Do the bedroom doors count as exit doors and does each bedroom therefore require an emergency light? Each bedroom is single occupancy and due to the physical nature of our training all occupants are physically fit adults who would not be classed as vulnerable or having additional needs.

Our Fire Risk Assessment has not previously found the need for Emergency Lights in each bedroom and a "spot check" by the local Fire Authority two years ago did not pick up on it.

Let me be clear, if they're a legal requirement we will absolutely fit them. At present in the event of a fire or loss of power all corridors and escape routes will be lit by Emergency Lights, just not the bedrooms themselves.

Any advice or guidance on this matter would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[AnthonyB]

No, individual bedrooms don't automatically require emergency lighting under standards or guidance, it's bending the terminology in BS5266 to sell more lighting & installation.

[Guest Guest Jim]

Many thanks for the quick response @AnthonyB - that was my understanding but I wanted to check with others more knowledgeable than myself.

[Guest Guest Jim]

One more request please. "individual bedrooms don't automatically require emergency lighting under standards or guidance" - could you point me towards the relevant documents where that appears please? It would be good to be able to quote the relevant part.

Many thanks.

[AnthonyB]

BS5266 - it doesn't say you don't need them but doesn't list them as being where you do - similarly with the gov.uk fire safety guides