If your power supply has failed due to power cut or fire burst, then emergency lighting can offer proper illumination immediately. Though it has various important roles to play in times of emergency, the major role is to prevent people from struggling as well as panicking in the dark or low light. This will help these people to leave the place peacefully and quickly. 

Different kinds of emergency lighting

There are various types of emergency lighting such as open area lighting and escape route lighting which offers proper illumination for the safety of people. The higher risk task area lighting provides light in those areas where risky situations might take place and a safer shutdown of operations is required. The latest revisions to BS 5266 has also been added in another category of emergency lighting for ‘safety lighting’ to cover the lighting required by the occupants who should stay within the premises. You might even come across the terms like maintained and non-maintained emergency lighting. While, non-maintained lighting is made to deal with the problem of a power failure by switching on immediately, maintained emergency lighting is actually lit continuously with a backup battery to continue working in case of a mains power cut. 

There are different variables that must be considered at the time of selecting the right emergency lighting. This will consist of – design of the building, activities to perform, nature of the business and needs of the occupants. Hence, getting the advice of a 24-hour electrician in London for choosing the right kind of emergency lighting is needed before you might think of installing it.

 Maintain an emergency lighting system

 It is extremely important to test as well as maintain emergency lighting with other equipment. Most businesses will prefer this option but there may be some variability in knowing what is actually required. Though this can help to understand about emergency lighting system individually, most systems should be checked after a month with a complete duration test every year.

• Monthly test – This is just a short test that will enable us to check if everything is functioning properly. Make sure you know all emergency lighting is working when the mains power is switched off with the test key. You should also check over the casings to ensure they are kept clean and do not show any signs of damage. After the mains power gets restored, see if they are fully charging up again. Maintain a record of the results in your logbook and sort them out quickly when you detect any kind of failure.
• Annual test – It is extremely important that emergency lights are offered a full rated duration test each year. This means when the emergency lights back up it should be able to provide 3 hours of illumination they require for testing a full 3 hours. This ensures if they are yet working well by the end of the test.

When you should perform the tests

Some factors to take into consideration are the following:

• One of the important factors is related to the risk of failure of the mains lighting supply immediately after the test. This happens when the battery is still not recharged completely. So, you need to detect when it is lower risk time for doing it. Few questions to ask are: Is the testing outside working hours considered to be an option? Can phased test be chosen in case the building has been occupied permanently? Are there shutdowns that provide safer options? Are there temporary arrangements to put in place till the batteries get recharged?
• Other considerations are the time of the day. Testing emergency lights during daylight is not a suitable option as it will not provide an actual representation of how effective they have been. It is quite sensible to think about performing emergency light tests when the fire company is doing other activities such as fire alarm system maintenance for using the timing in the most efficient way.

Thus, if you are having any queries related to the installation or maintenance of emergency lighting, then get in touch with emergency electricians in London right away. They will carry out a complete survey of your premises and also give abide by complying with the legal obligations for fire safety purposes.