When Is An Emergency Light, Not An Emergency Light?

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When it has a running man sign in front of it. Or so I am told.

Our village hall has just had a "fire audit".

Above every emergency exit is a non maintained emergency light fitting with the green running man symbol showing the way to the exit, there are 4 of these in the main hall and others throughout the building.

According to the audit, these are not "emergency lights" they are "signs" so according to this audit there are no emergency lights.

The simplest "solution" is to fit another emergency light directly above each existing one with just a plain white glass front so it will be a "light" rather than a "sign"

But before I quote a price to do this, is the auditor talking bollox or has the hall been "wrong" for the past 15 years?

 
im not an exert in emergency lighting, but if there is the green sign on front of the light, then that will reduce the lights output, possibly to the point that it does not comply with illumination levels required?

 
What does the design say? All life saving installations, which emergency lighting is should have been designed to ensure compliance with BS5266. Did the auditor carry out a lux level test to see if the appropriate lux levels are achieved? I believe 1 lux should be achieved in most areas although I would need to check that.

Without seeing the installation it is hard. I mean if the hall is huge with corridors and large toilets and offices then what good is a single light above a fire exit? There could be multiple dangers in the way such as tripping hazards. Life saving equipment such as fire extinguishers, call points, fire blankets and first aid kits are all required to have emergency lighting close by. Also the external side of all final exits require lighting. Also being a hall for use by people that may not be familiar with the building I would say non-maintained lights are not acceptable. They should be maintained.

We do not install emergency lighting without a design being carried out first. This is simply to protect ourselves. You could install a non-compliant emergency lighting installation and if someone was injured in an evacuation due to insufficient lighting levels you would be liable.

 
Believe it or not, Andy is right with what he says, daft that it may sound, and yes the green signs come in the same box as the emergency light, perhaps you could always peel the signs off and stick them under or above each light, so the light also still lights them. The thing you want to look at is  BS 5266 pt 1 2011

 
The light levels needed are   really low, lower than you realise so a check with a calibrated meter would be needed. 'Proper' exit signs have a clear plastic panel at the bottom to light the doorway, then again so would a NM fitting with the sticker on the front.

 
In simple terms the audit is a load of bollocks carried out by some testing compliance firm that knows nothing.

The green running man "stickers" and the green permanent panels allow the required light levels to penetrate them. If the same company did an audit on every building in the UK every installation would have the same outcome.

I would ask to see the evidence as to how such an outcome of testing this was established, then I would ask for a full refund of the audit, as it clearly shows the advise given is not within the training levels of the testers.

 
Yes there are a lot more emergency lights than just the exit ones. It just so happens though that as the main hall has so many exits, all of the lights are above exit doors and all have the green running man stickers pointing straight down at the door immediately under the sign.

The audit was carried out in daylight and I am pretty sure he didn't do any lux measurements.  Just made the statement that these were "signs" and therefore there were not ANY emergency "lights" in the main hall.

I'll report back the consensus to the hall committee  I guess their two options are pay someone else for an audit, or pay me to fit an arguably unnecessary second set of EM lights.   

 
If the so called "signs" were not emergency luminaries then why would they have batteries in them?

 
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Yes there are a lot more emergency lights than just the exit ones. It just so happens though that as the main hall has so many exits, all of the lights are above exit doors and all have the green running man stickers pointing straight down at the door immediately under the sign.

The audit was carried out in daylight and I am pretty sure he didn't do any lux measurements.  Just made the statement that these were "signs" and therefore there were not ANY emergency "lights" in the main hall.

I'll report back the consensus to the hall committee  I guess their two options are pay someone else for an audit, or pay me to fit an arguably unnecessary second set of EM lights.   
No the answer should be to pay for a competent person (i.e. you) to do a full periodic inspection of the emergency lighting installation.  Only that can provide the committee with a detailed report on the condition of the installation and whether it complies to BS 5266.

 
.......and did tou know......

The sign with the Man "with the broken leg" running LEFT can only be used if the exit route is to the LEFT

Man "right" can be used for up, down, right and straight ahead

Not a lot of people know that....but it is a fail on an Inspection and Test

Just saying
I did not know that. Is it in BS5266 or somewhere else, if so where please

 
it is also now not right to have the words 'EXIT' in any form on the exit sign. Pictures only.

 
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