Emergency Exit Lighting

1 December 2020

There are many things to consider when designing your office fit-out; the layout needs to be designed in a way that ensures navigation is easy, and that your operational structure is clear; the colour palette will need to reflect your branding and aesthetic as a company; lighting (link to other article) will need to be designed in a way that ensures the safety of everyone who comes and goes into the premises, and that also looks great. Undoubtedly, the process can be overwhelming. But one thing that absolutely needs to be addressed is the installation of Emergency Exits and Emergency Lighting.

In the event of an emergency, your main electrical circuit can be switched off for one reason or another. This means that your main lighting will be inactive. This can have potentially deadly consequences; for example if your work premises is devoid of natural light, the room may be plunged into darkness, and your employees may be unable to locate the exits on time. Obviously this is a massive problem, but planning your exit lighting strategically can avoid this hazard entirely.

Emergency lights are indeed fed into your mains, but unlike ordinary light fixtures, they have an internal battery, which allows illumination when the mains power is out.

Australia has emergency light standards in place to make sure people have a path to safety during an emergency incident. If you run a business in a building, it is up to you to ensure your emergency lighting is up to standard, and your emergency plan is up-to-date.

There are 3 Australian Standards that will determine how your Emergency Lighting and Exit Strategy will be implemented in your work space:

  1. AS 2293.1-2005 standard for system design, installation and operation. To provide designers, installers, manufacturers and consumers with the installation requirements for emergency lighting equipment and associated systems.
  2. AS/NZS 2293.2:1995 standard for inspection and maintenance. Sets out the periodic inspection and maintenance procedures which are necessary to ensure that emergency evacuation lighting systems will be in a state of readiness for operation at all times.
  3. AS 2293.3-2005 standard for emergency escape luminaries and exit signs Specifies requirements for the design, construction, performance and testing of emergency escape luminaires and exit signs themselves.

All of these Standards will need to be conducted to your building in order for you to be compliant. The way they will be implemented will depend on the type of building your workplace resides in. The National Construction Code has listed buildings into different classifications, in order to set out the minimum technical requirements for new buildings, and new building work in existing buildings in Australia.

If you’re DIY-ing your office fit-out, you will want to be very well-versed in these Standards, or risk creating a huge hazard, leaving yourself liable, and yourself and your employees unsafe.

The best course of action is to leave it to the professionals. Get a designer to work with you on your fit-out, implement an emergency procedure, and finally; hire an electrician you trust to install your emergency lighting for you.