EMERGENCY LIGHTING

Guide to Emergency lighting

Mymesh Guide to Emergency Lighting

Emergency Lighting is an essential element of a lighting installation for the safety of the building. And after several recent fatal events in the last years, there is more and more attention for compliance.

A control system plays a vital part in the system. It makes sure it reduces maintenance cost, improves operation and ensure compliance. But most important, it keeps the occupants save.

Mymesh supports Automatic Self Testing

DOWNLOAD THE LEAFLET

Introduction

Emergency Lighting is required in buildings to avoid darkness when the general lighting fails. The aim is to give illumination for orientation and allow personnel to find the escape routes without danger. Emergency lighting should operate automatically and result in sufficient lighting levels to evacuate safely.

The British Standard BS 5266-1 gives clear guidelines on how to design and install emergency lighting in a variety of applications; including, but not limited to, hotels, hospitals, care homes, schools and offices.. The standard recommends the necessary parameters for each category. Nevertheless, these requirements are a minimum and certain installations and/or clients may require or request higher standards.

Different categories of emergency lighting

Emergency lighting is subdivided into two categories:

Emergency escape lighting provides illumination for the safety of people leaving a location or to shut-down a (potentially dangerous) process safely. This category is further subdivided into 3 groups. These are as follows:
Escape route lighting – emergency lighting that identifies the escape route and ensures it can be navigated safely.
Open area lighting – emergency lighting that gives a general lighting level to avoid panic and to enable identifying and getting to the escape route.
High risk task area lighting – emergency lighting that gives a (higher) lighting level to provide safety when handling critical procedures to shut-down operations.
Standby lighting provides lighting to continue normal activities unchanged. This category of emergency lighting is not a legal requirement.

DISCOVER APPLICATIONS

Types of Emergency lighting

Power supply

There is a choice to be made for the type of Power Supply; Self-contained or Central Battery. There are several considerations when deciding which option is the better choice; with investment and maintenance costs being some of the significant factors.

Self-Contained – Single Point

Advantages

Fast (and cheaper) installation
Less invasive installation for retrofit
Standard wiring material
Mains cable burn-through will automatically satisfy the requirement for a luminaire to be lit
Low maintenance costs
Low hardware equipment costs
High system integrity as emergency luminaires are independent (no single point of failure)
Scalable (with additional luminaires)

Disadvantages

Batteries may be adversely affected by a relatively high or low ambient temperature
Battery life is limited to between 3 and 10 years
Testing requires isolation and observation of luminaires on an individual basis (if no Automatic Self Test (AST) and Monitoring system is used)

Central Battery Source

Advantages

Easy maintenance and routine testing is easier (only one location)
Batterylife is between 5 and 25 years, dependent upon type
Luminaire can operate at relatively high or low ambient temperatures
For larger installations: large batteries are cheaper per luminaire and luminaires are more cost effective

Disadvantages

High capital equipment costs
Fire resistant cable makes the cost of the installation and system wiring high
Poor system integrity as the failure of battery or wiring circuit can disable a large part of the system
Requirement for a ‘battery room’ (including possible requirements for ventilation, climate control)
Localised mains failure may not trigger emergency lighting
Voltage drop on the long wiring

Maintained / Non-maintained

The use of the area will determine whether the emergency lighting should be Maintained or Non-Maintained

Maintained: the emergency lighting is on at all times.

generally used in places of assembly (theatres, cinemas, clubs and halls, with the full list in BS 5266). It is possible to dim the lights under ‘normal’ operation.
also offers clear escape route guidance in evacuation situations where the power does not fail.

Non-maintained: the emergency lighting only comes on when the power supply fails. Non-maintained is the typical mode when artificial lighting is used when the space is occupied.

Notes:

A combined emergency luminaire integrates both the ‘normal’ general lighting and the emergency lighting into one body. It can be either maintained or non-maintained.
Single point emergency luminaire only provides emergency lighting.

1 or 3 hours?

In most applications, a duration of 3 hours is used for emergency lighting. Despite this, the Standard does allow different durations, depending on the size and complexity of the premises, and how evacuation is handled.

The minimum duration of an emergency escape lighting system is 1 hour, under certain circumstances. However, a minimum duration of 3 hours should be used if the premises is not evacuated immediately or if a building would be re-occupied immediately after restoring the supply (without waiting for the batteries to be re-charged). BS 5266 gives further guidance.

Compliance

The European Standard and BS 5266 both require two pieces of written declarations of compliance. The first documented legislation required is a ‘Completion Certificate’ which should be supplied by the installer. This includes a successful test of operation with a log of the system test. The second part needed is the evidence of regular (monthly and yearly) testing of the installation. This test simulates a mains power failure and activates the emergency lighting system to operate on the battery supply. This test can be carried out manually or automatically.

A REAL-LIFE EXAMPLE

Daily testing

This testing is for central battery systems only. It should be checked daily that the system is operational. It is not required to test the actual operation. This test is not required for a self-contained emergency system.
Monthly: Functional test

All emergency lighting systems are required to be tested monthly with a short functional test. A power failure is simulated on the system and during this period the correct functioning of the luminaires (including exit signs) need to be checked. This test can be as short as 10 seconds.
Yearly: Duration test

Once a year the emergency lighting system must be tested for the full duration (normally 3 hours). Correct functioning of the emergency lights at the end of this test must be checked.

Timing and/or organisation of the duration test is required as a precaution, because as the full rated duration tests require discharging the batteries, the emergency lighting system is not fully functional until the batteries have had time to recharge, which can take 24 hours.

Testing of emergency lighting

Functional operation of the emergency lighting should be checked at least once every month. A full test should be performed at least once annually. The standard requires you to perform this test while the building is empty or at times of minimal risk, or test alternate luminaires at any one time.

Regular servicing by a qualified person is essential for the correct performance of the system. This includes the replacement of batteries at the end of life.

All results of the testing must be recorded and logged. Detected failures must be repaired as soon as possible.

The testing may be performed manually, but can be subjected to the trained individuals availability. If the responsible person is unable to ensure that this will be done as frequently as required, it is advisable to use an automatic test system to perform the tests at the required intervals.

Manual testing

A mains failure is simulated by isolation the mains circuit or the individual luminaire. Correct operation of each emergency luminaire must be checked. This means that the tester needs to walk the whole building, where emergency lights are present, to witness correct performance of the emergency lighting. After restoring mains power at the end of the test, the tester must complete this again to verify correct charging of the batteries. This is usually dictated by a green LED.

The cost of manual testing can be significant. CIBSE Journal estimated the cost for the monthly mandatory test at £200 for an installation with up to 30 fittings. However, alternative methods can make it difficult for the building owner to be assured that it has been done correctly. All results gathered must be logged in the fire safety logbook, for reference.

SECURE

SCALABLE

ROBUST

ADAPTIVE

Automatic testing with Lumitel

To avoid the disruption, higher cost and compliance risks of manual testing, it is advisable to use an automatic test system to perform the tests at the required intervals. The Lumitel Cloud Dashboard can take over the execution, monitoring, reporting and guarantee compliance while being fully automated.

The Mymesh system uses DALI communication with the emergency inverter to control and monitor the Emergency Lighting. The following aspects are covered:

Testing

There are 2 distinct approaches; scheduled and randomised. The Emergency Inverter can be an automatic self test (AST) type that randomises the testing. This is a de-central approach that is very robust. The inverter will ensure that both Function and Duration Tests are performed in line with the testing regime required by the Standard. The lights require a 24 hour grace period after testing has occurred, so the randomised feature allows for the relevant lights in a section to be tested, while ensuring that the minimum required of emergency lights will still function during this grace period. This also allows batteries to recharge to a level safe for relevant legislation.

This will not always be acceptable in an installation. As a test will turn on the light, a randomized approach can be disturbing when the lights are required to be off. In these cases the tests can be instigated by the Mymesh system. This can be achieved via calendar functionality, determining when is best for the emergency tests to occur, minimising disruption. The time and date(s) chosen must be at a suitable time to ensure the disturbance potentially caused is at a minimum. To further reduce this, alternating sets of luminaires can be scheduled at different times.

Monitoring

The Mymesh system will continuously monitor the status of the Emergency Lighting. This will ensure that all test results are recorded. This also means that a fault status is observed as soon as it occurs. Furthermore, additional information like battery charge level and emergency time will be monitored. Luminaires are monitored continuously without the necessity for visits in person, saving money and time.

Compliance

For compliance it is required to record and log the test results. Lumitel will collect and store all data and present the results in a comprehensive report. This report can be retrieved from the Cloud based system or automatically be emailed to the user. Furthermore, all data can be retrieved from the data-log if required.

Predictive maintenance

Lumitel monitors the faults in the installation and will indicate if there are issues. This allows the system to inform the user to carry out required maintenance, and what exact maintenance is required. Time can be saved as both the type of the fault and the type of luminaire is known. The suitable parts can be brought to site, avoiding an expensive second visit.

Moreover, the data ascertained from the system can be used to accurately predict when maintenance would be required. Lumitel can also monitors battery charge level, temperature and for how long the battery was used. This can be used to estimate when a battery will need to be replaced. Doing this as group maintenance rather than individual spot replacements makes maintenance a lot more efficient.

British and European Standards for Emergency Lighting

Base guidance document
BS 5266-1: 2016
- Emergency lighting – Part 1: Code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises
- Promotes a wider understanding of the different types of emergency lighting system and gives guidance on their correct application in different categories of premises.
System standards
BS EN 1838:1999, BS 5266-7:1999
- Lighting applications. Emergency lighting
- Specifies the luminous requirements for emergency lighting requirements.
BS EN 50172:2004, BS 5266-8:2004
- Emergency escape lighting systems
- Sets out the requirements for emergency lighting in buildings and looks at the illumination of escape routes and safety signs if the normal supply fails. Specifies the minimum requirements of emergency lighting based on the size, type and usage of the relevant premises.
Product standards
BS EN 60598-1:2015
- Luminaires. General requirements and tests
- Covers general safety requirements for luminaires and supplies a set of requirements and tests for most types of luminaire.
BS EN 62034:2012
- Automatic test systems for battery powered emergency escape lighting
- Specifies the basic performance and safety requirements for individual products and components that are incorporated into automatic test systems for use with emergency lighting systems.
BS EN 50171:2001
- Central power supply systems
- Specifies the general requirements for central power supply systems for an independent energy supply to essential safety equipment.

The relevant standards

There is a series of British and European Standards that cover Emergency Lighting,including application, the system and the individual components. The key Standards are listed here, but this is not extensive.

Copies of the Standards can be purchased from BSI Shop - Buy British Standards.

‘Entirely local, scalable and ultra-secure’

Secure

Mymesh uses a banking level of security with encrypted digital communication and strong offline procedures. It was specially designed to safeguard all the demands of the public, work and industrial space. Its the reason why Mymesh is the choice

Scalable

Scalability is the holy grail in network technology. We took decades to build the most scalable network in the world. Mymesh does not rely on cloud/internet connectivity to operate. Mymesh lets you connect thousands of lights effortlessly.

Robust

The network was engineered to be very robust and non-hierarchical. This means that it will operate under any circumstance. When one node falls away, the control signals are automatically diverted via other routes in the network which keeps the network ultra strong.

Adaptive

Due to its ability to download new updates and functionalities, Connected LED enables your building to grow with the changing demand of its occupants and the technological advancement of the outside world.