Emergency lighting in Multiple Occupancy Properties

[marcusone]

Hi All

Can anybody advise me at what point is emergency lighting legally required for a multiple occupancy property example: Students sharing a 3 storey house. Is it based on number of floors, number of occupants etc ?

Many thanks

Mark

 

[bernardgreen]

Looking at it from common sense, this may not match regulations.

The minimum requirement would be lights on all staircases and corridors that one would expect to be used in any escape from a fire and any rooms that would be used for routes to alternative exits such as a room with a window onto a safe flat roof.

They will need to be student proof.

You will need a key switch to enable testing by removal of mains.

You may need to consider the house being without power for several weeks during vacations when the students go home and the effect this will have on the batteries.

 

[Tim 77]

They will need to be student proof.

Nothing's student proof, I test the fire alarms in a number of residential blocks at a university in the next town and regually find tissue ect stuffed into the older style bells.

Try and put the emergency lights on the local lighting circuit for each floor/flat, if not then you can always run in a new circuit and put maintained lights in.

 

[Booyaka]

does maintained mean the light is used as part of the normal lighting circuit switched on and off with the lights but when the circuit fails the light stays on via the battery charging from the permanent live

then non maintained means the light only comes on when theres a break in the normal circuit and is never used as part of the normal lighting circuit?

 

[Spark123]

Yeah, sounds right. Normally use maintained for the likes of exit doors too which are illuminated in normal use.

 

[Booyaka]

as always thanks spark123

 

[fattony]

If you want to save yourself some time and hassle ELP make emergency lights which are self testing, they have a built in timer and light sensor. Not sure on how often the tests are but they conform to the BS, if a light fails the test they beep and the LED will flash either amber or red depending on what it failed on, could be worth paying the extra for peace of mind of not having to pop round and test evey month