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Emergency Lighting
What is emergency lighting?
Emergency lighting operates automatically when a lighting circuit loses the
mains power supply.
Emergency lighting falls into two categories:
Escape lighting
This illuminates exit routes and open areas.
These are defined in full o
n summary:
• Exit routes must be clearly lit and signed to ensure people can evacuate the
building safely.
• Open area lighting is designed to reduce confusion and panic, whilst
ensuring visibility of the nearest exit route.
• Escape lighting also enables employees to shut down sensitive or potentially
dangerous processes before evacuating the building.
Standby lighting
Standby lighting allows normal activities to continue if the main lighting fails for
any reason. An application such as an operating theatre or an air traffic control
centre would require standby lighting.
Maintaining your emergency lighting scheme
Once an emergency lighting scheme is designed and installed, the person
responsible for the building has a legal obligation to make sure that all the
emergency luminaires will operate when required.
Emergency light fittings must be regularly tested to confirm that they will operate
when required. These testing requirements are detailed in full o
As a pioneer in the field of emergency lighting, Thorn offers three different ways
of testing emergency lighting:
• Addressable Test
All the emergency light fittings are controlled by a central system.
This system automatically tests each luminaire and stores the results for analysis.
Addressable test systems are the optimum way of ensuring a fully functional
emergency lighting scheme, particularly in medium to large applications.
• SelfTest
All the emergency lights are equipped with a intelligent processor that
automatically tests functionality and battery life. Results are clearly displayed
on a bi-colour LED indicator. Self Test is an ideal option for small to medium
applications.
• Manual Test
A competent individual must walk around the building and perform a
manual check for each emergency fitting, which must have a dedicated
record sheet. This needs to be completed by hand and stored for inspection
by the local authorities.
Peace of Mind
All Thorn emergency luminaires are specifically designed to be genuine
emergency fittings. This guarantees that they meet both legal standards and
our own exacting specifications. Thorn does not offer converted versions of
standard fittings for use in emergency lighting schemes.
Specific requirements for emergency
lighting are set out in law and the
individual responsible for the building
must ensure that people can safely
leave the premises when the mains
power fails.
This evacuation is facilitated by an
emergency lighting scheme that must
comply with European laws. These
laws dictate the level of lighting
required in the event of an
emergency, together with important
obligations such as the visibility of
exit signage and the response time of
emergency luminaires.
It is essential that the latest legislation,
directives and standards are
checked and understood before
an emergency lighting scheme is
designed and specified.
