Emergency lighting/EICR Testing in Birmingham
EMERGENCY LIGHTING OVERVIEW
Emergency Lighting is the ‘backup’ lighting that kicks in when there’s a power cut to the mains supply which would otherwise plunge a building into darkness.
It must be properly designed, installed, maintained, and tested by qualified electricians in order to meet regulations.
At Able Electric Birmingham Testing, our expert engineers take the worry out of the whole process for you by ensuring that your systems are up to date, up to standard, well maintained, and above all, provide the required level of safety for your employees and customers in the event of an emergency.
INFO REGARDING EMERGENCY LIGHTING
You can break emergency lighting down into three main categories:
EMERGENCY ESCAPE LIGHTING
When people need to leave a building in an emergency and the power has gone out, such as in the event of a fire, emergency lighting covers all escape routes. The aim is safely to guide people to their nearest exit via lit escape routes.
EMERGENCY SAFETY LIGHTING
This applies when power has failed, but it’s not an emergency situation. Emergency safety lighting is enough for people to remain in areas of a building while power is restored, but it’s not enough to carry on working.
STANDBY LIGHTING
This is backup lighting that is activated during a power cut to a level that allows work to continue. This has to be 100% of the normal lighting as a standby measure.
WHO REQUIRES EMERGENCY LIGHTING?
Almost all commercial properties, including workplaces, retail, leisure, and public buildings (and some domestic properties) need some form of emergency lighting and there are different requirements relating to different categories of buildings.
Risk assessments are usually necessary to determine what level of emergency lighting system is needed.
EMERGENCY LIGHT TEST PROCEDURES
All emergency lights need to be regularly tested by qualified electricians in accordance with safety standards. This is to ensure it is working correctly, compatible with fire safety systems, and continues to meet regulations – for example, if you’ve redesigned or refurbished your premises, the chances are your emergency lighting systems will need to be altered accordingly.
Various tests are required daily, monthly, and annually, including checks of individual luminaires and exit signs and of central battery systems.
WHAT ARE THE LIGHTING RULES AND REGULATIONS?
Rules and regulations around emergency lighting have toughened up in recent years and the legal obligations for installing emergency lighting systems now carry the same importance as fire alarm systems.
Relative legislation includes the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety Order), the Health and Safety at Work Act, Building Regulations, and the EU Workplace Directive.
Emergency lighting regulation is covered by a variety of British Standards at each stage of the process, including general advice about the provision of emergency lighting (BS 5266-1:2016), the specified illumination (BS EN 1838: 2013), minimum requirements for the provision and testing of emergency lighting for different premises and various product standards (BE EN 50172:2004/BS 5265:2004).
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EICR Testing in Birmingham and West Midlands. Carried out by local NICEIC electricians.
The purpose of an EICR sometimes known as Electrical Periodic or Fixed Wire Testing is to see if the electrical systems and installations are kept safe and well maintained. We will provide you, the owner, with a certificate of safety following the inspection. For any installations that are deemed unsatisfactory, a report will be issued detailing where the issues are, what the likely cause of the issue is and how it can be fixed in order to pass the test full. All issues will be graded in order of importance a and severity.
A full EICR test will provide valuable insight into the functioning of the electrical infrastructure at your place of work or property. It will allow you to not only assess the condition that the electrical systems are in but also to evaluate how efficiently they are working. If available, details of how you could upgrade the systems that may have suffered from deterioration will be detailed for you and you will be advised how to proceed with replacing them. Improving the lighting and energy consumption for your premises can both save you money in the long run and also make your business more environmentally friendly.
Issues that can be revealed & then fixed with an EICR test.
- An EICR test can reveal any issue with circuits or equipment that, might overload or over heat the system.
- Find areas of electric shock risks and fire hazards, analyse them and put a safe solution in place.
- Raise awareness of safety issues with bonding or earthing of electrical installations and equipment.
- Identify any potential faulty electrical work, that could lead to any of the faults above or direct injury to your employees (If a business owner)
Finally, insurance companies are increasingly asking for Electrical Installation Conditioning reports being done to avoid, avoidable offences and accidents within the workplace.
Electrician in Birmngham:EICR Testing covering Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall, Coventry, Tamworth, Sutton Coldfield, Nuneaton, and surrounding areas.
