10 May Do you have the right emergency lighting in place for your business?
Emergency Lighting Systems For Businesses
Emergency lighting can be a life saver in the event of a fire. Imagine you are trapped within a room and you need to escape. Behind you is the fire, in-front all you can see is smoke and your visibility is virtually zero. You now looking around for the nearest exit signs, the are invisible due to all the smoke around you. You cannot see any obvious way out, you are trapped, if you can’t escape it could be the end. This may sound rather dramatic, sadly this does however happen, people need clear escape routes and and illuminated fire exits in order to escape.
During 2013-2014 in Great Britain there were 322 fire related deaths, according to a report from the Department for Communities and Local Government (the 2015 – 2016 has not been produced as yet). 41% of these fire-related deaths were caused from the victim being overcome by smoke, gas or toxic fumes. With the correct use and installation of the right fire safety equipment some of these deaths may have been avoided.
Emergency lighting is an addition any building should have, its not just a recommendation it is the law. The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 states that “emergency routes and exits that require illumination, must be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in the case of failure of their normal lighting”. All non-domestic buildings must have emergency lighting installed in case a fire breaks out.
How does emergency lighting actually work?
In simple terms, emergency lighting is installed to withstand power outage, usually by using batteries. This way, the lighting is not dependent on connection from the main power source within the building.
Knowing what type of emergency lighting you need and where it should be placed within your premises is not always straight forward. There are many different types of emergency lighting for example, illuminated emergency exit signs, floor lighting, open area lighting, bulkhead emergency lights. Each of these also come with their own specific purpose and guidelines for usage. Therefore it is important you choose a company that has knowledge and experience of both fitting and maintaining emergency lighting systems.
Business owners who don’t comply with the fire safety legislation can find themselves in a lot of trouble. Not just from loosing their building and contents in the event of a fire, they are liable for any breaches within the law in regards to the Fire Safety Order 2005.
So how can business owners safeguard themselves? The answer is by using a company with competent staff who have a good understanding of their products and needs and the requirements of your building. They need to be familiar with the best practices outlined within the British Standard, companies how have third party certification (which means an independent company has verified that they comply with best practice). The easy way to do this is to look on their website to see if they have the FIA logo, all members of the FIA are certified by an independent recognised certification body.
At Safe and Sure Fire Protection, we have been providing businesses throughout the North East with expert advice and quality products since 1985. We are a BAFE registered company and offer a comprehensive range of products and services for fire protection. We have also achieved the British Standard of ISO9001 Kitemark accreditation, meaning we can provide an infallible service for fire protection for businesses throughout the region. Our clients range from small start up businesses to more larger blue chip companies, if you would like to speak to us regarding your fire protection requirements please call us on 0191 378 1153 or find out more
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