Emergency Exit Lights
Emergency lights
Do you have exit lights or emergency lights in your school? When was the last time you tested them? Emergency and exit light testing is one of those jobs that many schools don’t realise they legally are obliged to do every six months under Australian Standards 2293.2.
So why do you need to test your emergency and exit lighting? Imagine that there is a fire in your building. The lights have suddenly gone out and it is very dark. The classroom is full of smoke and your students and teachers need to quickly get out of the building. Without operational emergency and exit lights, how will they know which way is out?
Two Main Types of Exit Lighting
Exit lighting is generally installed over doors, or is directional to help people locate the nearest exit. There are two main types of exit lights in buildings: One stays on all the time and other only comes on during power failure.
The ones that stay on all the time have two sets of bulbs inside them – one which operates on the regular building power, and a smaller low voltage bulb that is powered by a battery and which only comes on when there is a power outage. An exit light that appears to be working when the power is on, may have a burned out low voltage bulb or flat battery, which means that it doesn’t work when it is needed.
The exit lights that only come on during power failure are connected to the main electrical supply that constantly charges the battery. When the power fails, a circuit is triggered and the low-voltage bulb comes on – powered by the battery. If the battery does not hold the charge, it can quickly become dim. If the bulb is burned out, the light will not come on at all.
Emergency lighting
Many businesses also have emergency lighting to provide basic lighting in case of power outages (often called spitfire lighting). These are often located above stairs and within rooms such as toilets to provide enough light for people to safely exit or move around the area. Emergency lighting is also required to be regularly tested.
