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Emergency lighting systems aren’t just there for illuminating dark corners. They play a vital role in building safety and are singlehandedly responsible for helping people escape from the premises during emergencies.
With poorly installed systems, you can expect chaos at minimum and loss of life at worst. This isn’t an exaggeration but a fact that has been seen throughout history.
Buildings without proper emergency lighting typically see a higher risk of stampedes, disorderliness, and sheer panic. Meanwhile, buildings with proper lighting may see panicky people, but they are far more coordinated and have a significantly higher chance of getting out safely.
The importance of emergency lighting systems is why we have specific regulations that govern the installation and maintenance of these systems.
Read below to learn more about how poor emergency lighting design can increase liability risk and put occupant lives in danger, and what you can do about it:
Emergency lighting systems aren’t like regular lights that you typically see in any building. They are designed to be highly functional, bright, and deliberate. In fact, these lights are part of fire safety and work with firefighting systems to guide people to safety.
Emergency lights come in handy during fires, earthquakes, storms, or even floods, and since they play such an important role in decision-making during high-stakes moments, they need to be installed extremely precisely.
Here are some places that you would commonly find these systems in:
Poor lighting does nothing but guarantee one thing: lawsuits.
The fact that these lights are there to guide people to safety during emergencies makes them extremely important to regulators, which is why they heavily scrutinise buildings that do not follow rules.
According to UK regulations, emergency lighting is governed by the Regulatory Reform Order of 2005, the British Standards (BS) 5266-1 and the British Standards EN 1838. These regulations outline the installation, placement, testing, servicing, and general maintenance of emergency lighting systems.
To enforce these regulations, buildings go through periodic inspections via an authorised person who inspects the premises to determine the overall safety and effectiveness of the lights.
Here is how poor emergency lighting design increases liability risk:
Emergency lighting is part of fire safety, which is why you don’t just get a slap on the wrist if you mess up the lighting design.
Since the installation and design are outlined by the British Standards and building regulations, building owners are held directly responsible for non-compliance if they do not follow the regulations.
Fire and Rescue services inspect buildings periodically and have the authority to take formal action if they notice a subpar system.
Here is how the officer might escalate for poor emergency lighting designs in buildings:
If you get this notice, then you will have to make immediate improvements to the fire and safety arrangements in the building within the specified days (mentioned on the notice) or face serious legal consequences.
This notice is given to highlight specific repairs or upgrades within strict deadlines. This isn’t a death sentence, but it carries serious consequences if the recommendations aren’t followed within the deadlines.
This is what all building owners fear. You have to really mess up the lighting design to get this notice, which requires the immediate closure of the premises.
This notice is specifically given if the inspection reveals that there is a serious risk to life. Under this notice, the building cannot legally operate until the lighting issues are addressed.
As we have already established, emergency lighting requires serious and strict attention. Failing to comply with the standards and the law is a serious criminal offence that can land you in very hot water.
At a minimum, penalties include fines of up to £5,000 to £75,000+, depending on severity. At worst, you can expect unlimited fines in serious cases and up to 2 years imprisonment for particularly serious breaches or negligence.
Not only will you suffer with disruptions, but your insurance company will also probably bail on you. Insurers also have strict requirements that are in line with the British Standards when it comes to emergency lighting and its proper installation and function.
The lighting system must have a detailed logbook that proves that it has been maintained and tested regularly.
If there is a fire or disaster and there is loss caused due to poor emergency lighting design, then the insurance company may fully refuse to pay claims.
We are using the word “possible” very lightly here. The truth is that if the design flaw is serious enough, you can bet that occupants will go the lawsuit route, and you may even face a Class Action if things are particularly bad.
In the case of businesses, you can face civil claims from employees or visitors, which can result in significant compensation and legal costs on top of a tarnished brand image.
This is perhaps the biggest reason why emergency lighting systems must be installed according to the strictest standards. Material things can be recovered or earned back eventually, but human life is something that takes a long-lasting toll.
Apart from the damage to the reputation of the building, losing human lives due to a subpar lighting system will cause public outrage that the building management might not be able to handle.
This type of damage is usually permanent and can cause lasting repercussions for all parties involved.
As mentioned above, emergency lighting systems need to be installed following the British Standard BS 5266-1, which provides the requirements for installing emergency lighting systems in buildings such as offices, schools, colleges, hospitals, nursing homes, hotels, shops, museums, and other multi-storey buildings.
These guidelines aim to set a baseline for the system and can cover the following:
To enforce these guidelines, building owners will also need to appoint a single person who will perform all the necessary checks required to ensure that the system is working as intended. If the building is large enough, then there can be multiple people tasked with various responsibilities.
The appointed individual(s) will:
There are four types of emergency lights in buildings:
These lights can be found on exits and are used to illuminate fire escapes and emergency exits to help occupants of a building evacuate safely.
They are usually the big red signs that say “EXIT” on top of doors and are vital for guiding people during low-visibility conditions.
Also known as “anti-panic” lighting systems, you will commonly see these lights in open spaces like open parking lots, where people may need guiding lights to take them towards safety.
These are specialised lights placed over heavy or dangerous machinery. They are designed to help people get to safety while safely moving away from dangerous equipment. During emergencies, these lights are kept on long enough for the workers to stop working, switch off the machinery, put down the tools, and evacuate safely.
This type of lighting is automatically switched on when the power goes out. It is a typical backup system that can be found in most residential and commercial properties. They work by switching power from the main line to an alternative source, such as a generator or a solar system.
The best way to avoid a poorly designed emergency lighting system is to have a separate safety board for your building.
This board can be made up of multiple stakeholders who will be tasked with maintaining the safety policies of the building in line with the general guidance outlined in the British standards.
This method is effective for not only maintaining a solid baseline of safety for the building, but it can also help with improving the brand image of the builder and even perhaps helping them secure insurance premium discounts due to advanced safety measures.
The board can oversee the responsible people and their daily duties. These people can also directly report to the board and provide them with detailed incident reports or suspected damage to the lighting system.
For example, assigned individuals can log inspection events and highlight compliance issues around the building. This report can then be shared with building stakeholders who can get ahead of the problems and immediately address them.
Want to avoid legal problems and decrease liability risk? Then there is no better way than to have the emergency lighting system serviced by a professional company like Calder Electrical.
Professional installers are accredited and certified by all the relevant authorities, which makes them highly qualified to handle all types of servicing activities. These companies can help you conduct risk assessments and even highlight serious gaps in the emergency lighting system.
This way, you do not have to do anything outside of setting up the maintenance contract. The installer will take care of all the maintenance tasks according to the specifics of the building.
Maintenance activities also include periodic testing, where all the lighting systems will be tested according to the British Standards and regulations.
There are two ways emergency lighting can be tested and serviced:
This test involves cutting off the mains supply to assess whether the emergency lighting system is working as it should.
For commercial buildings, this can be done after business hours when there is no one in the building. Once the power is cut and the emergency lights are on, the inspector will then manually go around the building to check the lighting and see whether it is working as intended.
Automatic testing is best for larger properties and involves self-testing technology, which reduces labour costs and human error. These tests rely on advanced automated diagnostics and LED status indicators.
Automatic testing isn’t disruptive or time-consuming and can be conducted in many ways to match the requirements for different types of buildings.
Emergency lighting can be serviced and tested daily, monthly, and yearly. If you want maximum effectiveness and guaranteed safety, then daily visual inspections are the way to go.
These inspections focus on checking the power supply indicators to make sure the emergency lighting system is fully functional. Although these tests aren’t as thorough as the ones conducted during professional maintenance activities, they are useful in highlighting suspected errors or known problems before they become serious issues.
According to the British Standards 5266, all emergency lighting systems must be tested at least once a month. Monthly tests focus on “flick” testing, where the power is turned off deliberately to assess the system. This is a crude but highly effective way of testing the lights and is usually done outside of business hours.
Annual tests are the gold standard for assessing the health of the emergency lighting system. This series of tests checks for battery integrity and the internal components of the lighting system.
Annual tests also focus on full-duration tests where the lights remain on to see if they last as long as specified by the British Standards (1 to 3 hours).
We have been providing electrical services to residential, commercial, and industrial properties for over 40 years and are specialists in all aspects of electrical installations, maintenance, and testing.
We are NICEIC registered, follow the current wiring regulations, and have experienced and fully qualified electrical engineers on hand to deliver a professional and high-quality service that includes emergency lighting installation and servicing.
We have been undertaking electrical work since 1976 and are specialists in the field. If you have unplanned issues within your home or business, we can provide a call-out service to rectify and solve any problems.
Our call-out services include emergency repairs, scheduled maintenance, fault finding and diagnostics, installation services, safety inspections, and emergency lighting and power solutions.
Contact us here or call us on 0800 612 3001 for more information on emergency lighting systems, their importance, and how poor emergency lighting design increases liability risk.
Photo by Etienne Girardet on Unsplash
