Emergency Lighting

Hi, So I moved into a small studio flat (HMO situation in birmingham) and there's this huge emergency light with this piercing bright green light. It literally lights up the entire room making sleep impossible. The ceiling is around 8 to 9 foot tall so I can't even reach high enough to cover the light with a bit of a black sack. My place was recently refurbished and the last 2 people to live here stayed for a combined week before leaving. I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask but what can I do about this? I've not heard back from my landlords but I have a feeling they're going to tell me to put up with it. Thanks!

On our emergency lighting we have some small red lights in them and some green on the others is this correct or should they be all one colour.

In our block of flats, a competent person does the monthly functional checks and one hour test 6 monthly. Annual checks are done by a company who can issue a Certificate. We are now told that the latter is legally required six monthly Is this correct ? John

I have been advised, by a Senior Property Manager, the following “Emergency lighting is only required for buildings larger than two storeys. Smaller buildings do not require emergency lighting if the escape route is short and ‘borrowed’ lighting is shining into the building from the outside”. I have reviewed The Building Regs 2010 Approved Doc B V2 and in Table 9 (page 60) point 1 states - Residential _ all common escape routes, except in 2-storey flats. Can anyone advise reference ‘except in 2-storey flats’. Is this terminology for a maisonette? i.e main front door – open into a lobby whereby the ‘old lounge door’ is now a front door (flat 1) – stairs dir…

Do self-test systems still require annual contractual maintenance? Fire Service enforcement officers always ask for proof of contractual maintenance and testing of emergency light systems

I work at a wholesale company that has a warehouse on the ground floor and offices on the first floor. My question is whether having a number of torches hanging on the walls around the building that are inspected weekly/monthly would pass as suitable emergency lighting from a legal point of view? Thanks

Factory unit internal mez-floor, through fire escape door to ground floor via stair case which is external from building to car park a) Does the escape stairs require dark hours lighting? B) does exit lighting need to be maintained? All employees are aware of fire drill and all exits. Any help you can give me would be most appreciated. Regards Andy

I work at a court (assisted living) for retired naval and army. For the last year I have been performing a flick test quick and easily to the 200 + Thorlux dot halo ceiling lights on three floors that are Illuminated virtually all day as there is constant people walking up and down the passageways which trigger the sensors . Previous flick tests were simple by flicking the MCB and all those lights running off that circuit turn off with just the emergency lights t staying on . So I can quickly and efficiently see if the emergency lights are all working as they should. The manager has now requested I perform this task with a fishkey and Not to use the MCBs. Th…

We have a Dali system, i understand the requirements when it comes to PPM monthly/Annual 3 hour discharge etc... QUESTION—At the point of completing a monthly test, how do you get assurances that all the batteries will discharge for a minimum of 3 hours? The annual PPM dictates a 3-hour discharge, and any that fail that test are replaced with new batteries that are then charged up. Over the 12 months, the batteries degrade. Should a battery always last a minimum of 3 hours? Can anybody point me to any guidance that is clear on this point? thanks, Jim

When i changed two tubes in two emergency lights ( the ones with the green man ) the lights stays on continuously. Please help. Is the units faulty ?

Hi there. I'm a disabled student and my lights have recently been "fixed" (all disabled rooms being fitted with new light units.) but my bathroom one hasn't which has lead me to slight confusion. I'm the only one in my room over the summer months so can't ask anyone staying in the other rooms. This means I now have 2 very bright green lights that are constantly on (looking like a bright green dot in the corner when my lights are on - they are very bright- but this is what I expected). I can deal with the the green being bright if they were like the old ones/ my bathroom where they cut of after the 4/5 hour mark. But they don't. So can anyone tell m…

Hi all, looking for you thoughts and comments on the following. BS9999 2017 notes that ''normal lighting'' should be maintained in fire fighting shafts. this is noted as being served by a secondary power supply. its not very explicit but my question is do you need to maintain the normal lighting LUX levels in fire fighting shafts in emergency conditions i.e failure of the primary supply? i have reviewed BS5266 and it does not mention this requirement. also is a fire fighting shaft the same as a fire fighting stair? BS999 extracts below. thanks in advance. g) Any electrical substation or enclosures containing any distribution board…

How long should I leave the emergency light on while doing my monthly test? Need the reference as well please. Thank you. F

Hi, apologies if this isn't the correct thread to ask this question but it's the only one I can find. We recently had an external Environmental audit to identify areas of improvement for our organisation to improve our environmental efficiency. One of the actions that our auditors have give us is to change all of the lighting in our stairwells to PIRs, however one of our board has questioned if this is legal as they are stairwells? I have done some digging around and have not been able to find any information to either confirm or deny if this is compliant with legislation. Can anyone help? Many thanks Robert

Hi Guys, A question, does the building primary power supply needs to be shutdown during the fire event to mitigate the electrical hazard in during the event ?

Good morning, I've been asked to prove within legislation that we need emergency lighting in various types of sites that we have. Mainly large convenience stores and small supermarkets, but also, funeral homes, travel agencies etc. Building regs I presume state the need in New Builds, (Please direct me and I need to know how these and other regs determine the NEED. We of course do have emergency lighting in 99.9% of sites. I am a qualified emergency lighting designer but this was some years ago. So I am conversant with BS5266 and how to design a system. BUT I need to be able to demonstrate the NEED withing legislation. Can you please direct, regarding new and existing sit…

I am doing a university assignment and cannot find dates / year of introduction of LED emergency lighting into the UK. Can anyone provide a date / date range of when LED units became available for installation in the UK. Assignment is based on sustainability and energy reduction and this seems like a pertinent topic.

I have a query with regards to self testing emergency lighting. I am an on-site maintenance engineer for a commercial building. In our corridors, emergency escape routes and some plant areas are covered by LED self testing emergency lighting. I carry out a monthly visual inspection of these lights but there are no records of when the actual self tests occurred ( monthly, 3 monthly and annual tests ) so nothing has been recorded. Is it a requirement to have these tests recorded on file? Your advice would be much appreciated. Regards, Shaun

I have an emergency light which the green light is only on when it is charging the battery,then goes out, is this correct, i thought the green light was supposed to stay on at all times?

I recently stayed at a hotel which had non-maintainted emergency lights in the bedrooms with very bright green indicator LED's, so I complained. I didn't think emergency lighting was required in a hotel bedroom that had a window, and your website appears to confirm this. However, I was informed by the hotel staff that new legislation states that all rooms required emergency lighting. Please can you confirm whether your website is correct or whether in fact there has been subequent legislation written.

Good afternoon, Could you kindly assist with the following concerns that we have: We have employed the services of a lighting company to replace a large quantity of our old fluorescent lighting with modern LED fittings across several of our clients’ schools. Some of the light fittings are combined/emergency type fittings (mainly suspended ceiling mounted LED panel type luminaires). The project is nearing completion and we have requested the electrical test certificates for the work. The contractor has replied that they do not normally provide test certificates for swapping fittings on a point for point basis, emergency lighting certification is not…

I HAVE AN EMERGENCY LIGHT THAT FLASHES RED AND GREEN. THE COLOR LIGHT CHART SAYS HI CHARGE. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN. IS THAT OK? IT TESTS OK AND SHEN I REMOVE THE UNIT FROM THE WALL, THE LIGHTS COME ON SO THE BATTERY IS FUNCTIONING. JUST WONDERING WHAT HIGH CHARGE MEANS

Hi all, I'm looking at installing emergency lighting (maintained) in a small residential block of flats (9 flats across 3 floors). One fitting per landing + one fitting per stairway set (5 lights in all) Question...do I need to fit dedicated test/key switches to each EL unit (or in banks) or can I get away with using the single switch fuse (located in the services cupboard) to facilitate testing. Appreciate the advice. Many thanks Ian

I have always followed Lacors (2013 I believe this is the last revision/amend). I have an HMO, with non maintained Emergency Lighting, mains supplied, with back up battery. It states: monthly periodic flick tests performed and Logged by the manager or fire contact, with annual periodic tests certified by a competent person. The competent person has contacted me to say he has an update to guidance that states: every six months a 1 hour test to be performed by manager/fire contact (in addition to above tests). I will ask him how he has been informed of this update, and should it superseed the Lacors Guidance. Thanks.

We are reviewing the emergency lighting calculations of another consulting engineer on a care home/residential project and are having a problem concerning the correct standard that they should be using. The consultants did their emergency lighting calculations in April 2012 with preliminary design in December 2011. The have worked to BS EN 1838:1999 (the 0.2 lux standard) and we believe that they should have worked to BS 5266-1:2011 (Published November 2011 – the 1lux standard). Now legally are they allowed to work to the 0.2 lux standard even with the new standard being published? I understand that there is a deviation but if this was to go to court is it still accep…