Testing of Emergency Lighting

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Smart technologies for self-testing emergency lighting.

Occupiers of buildings requiring emergency lighting are obliged by law to test their emergency lighting regularly and record the results.

This entails a "responsible person" failing the supply to the local mains lighting circuits in order to activate the emergency luminaires and checking each and every luminaire for its correct operation.

This can be arduous and sometimes impossible to achieve whilst still maintaining the building in an operable state as emergency lighting has to be available at all material times.

Additionally, the tests, their results and subsequent actions all have to be recorded in a form available for inspection by the Local Fire Authority.

It is evident that to carry out this procedure regularly is an expensive obligation that can have legal or life threatening consequences if tests are missed or luminaires overlooked.

Testing in accordance with BS5266-1 is deemed to show compliance with current UK Regulations although both are to be revised in 2005.

Currently BS5266 requires the following:

*It is expected that the New International and European Standard for automatic test systems will be reflected in an amended BS5266 later this year (2005) to remove the six monthly test requirement but require the full duration test every year following commissioning.

Fitzgerald Lighting Group offer two solutions (AutoTest® System and 'Lite' Control Testing System) that can reduce the costs associated with meeting the need to test emergency lighting systems and automatically advise the User if there is a fault that requires remedial action.

The benefits of FLG automatic test systems are:

• Thorough testing of all luminaires is reliably undertaken without the intervention of skilled labour.

• Cost savings are realised through simpler testing, specific fault identification and subsequently speedier rectification.

• Test sequences can be pre-determined to coincide with times of least risk.

• Automatic logging can ensure that thorough and accurate records are maintained.