Emergency Lighting is the lighting provided when the normal mains lighting fails, due to power cuts or fire, to enable all occupants to evacuate the premises safely or complete a critical task.
Sudden darkness could lead to physical danger and panic to occupants. Therefore, emergency lighting solutions are required to operate fully automatically and give illumination of a sufficiently high level. All emergency luminaires must be given a short test monthly and a full duration test once a year and comprehensive test records must be maintained.
British Standard regulations provide specific guidelines that relate all types of commercial, industrial, public and private sector buildings. Note: there are applications that will require a higher specification.