Alan Daniels, business development director of emergency lighting specialist, P4, describes the latest trends in, and requirements for, emergency lighting, a vital part of the building services footprint in hospitals and other healthcare premises.
He also explains how those responsible for the safe operation of emergency lighting system can ensure they comply with their obligations under the law.
Emergency lighting has undergone many interesting changes over the past few years to provide products that are more reliable, energy-efficient, and aesthetically pleasing. For hospital estates managers and staff, it is very important to understand the nature and implications of these developments, not only from a legal and risk assessment point of view, but also as a means of increasing maintenance efficiency, reducing costs, and obviating any disruption to clinical activities. The essential requirement of any emergency lighting system, however, remains unchanged – to have in place a system that will provide at all times the safest means of evacuation in the event of an incident that causes the failure of the mains lighting circuit. One of the major changes, undoubtedly has been the pace of innovation, accelerated by the increasing use of LEDs, and the search for more cost effective and sustainable solutions. Last year my ‘inbox’ was even more crowded as a result of changes to the major British Standard, ‘Code of Practice for the emergency escape lighting of premises’, BS5266 Part 1: 2011 (replacing BS5266 – 1:2005 and BS5266:-10:2008), and impending changes to BSEN 62034 Automatic Test Systems for Emergency Lighting, due later this year.
Revised standard
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