If you comply with a British Standard then it’s pretty clear that you take your responsibilities seriously as an organization, and indeed compliance is often taken as evidence of due diligence. It certainly speaks volumes about your attitudes to doing things properly.

However, standards aren’t the same as regulations and following a standard doesn’t guarantee that you’re within the relevant laws. In fact standards rarely cite the law as legislation could change within the lifetime of the standard.

When it comes to standards and regulations as a LTD company Durcan Services follow all requirements and if any regulations are updated we always inform our engineers knowledge to ensure they are always up-to-date.

Emergency Lighting standards and regulations;

British and European Standards – Emergency Lighting

Emergency lighting is now covered by a series of interdependent standards that can be seen as forming a hierarchy as shown below.

Base guidance document

BS 5266-1: 2011 Code of practice for emergency lighting of premises. Gives general rules and guidance on the provision and operation of emergency lighting in most premises other than dwelling houses.

System standards

BS EN 1838:1999 / BS 5266-7:1999 Lighting applications – emergency lighting. Specifies the illumination to be provided by emergency lighting (including luminance, duration and colour).

BS EN 50172:2004 / BS 5266-8:2004 Emergency escape lighting systems. Specifies the minimum provision and testing of emergency lighting for different premises.

Product standards

BS EN 60598-1: 2008 Luminaires.  General requirements and tests. See the 60598 series for particular requirements.

BS EN 62034:2006 Automatic test systems for battery powered emergency escape lighting. Specifies a test system for battery powered emergency lighting

BS EN 50171:2001 Central power supply systems. Specifies central power supply systems for emergency lighting luminaries.

Visit your local reference library or purchase copies of the requisite standards from BSI online; insert the BS number to see which titles are current. The links may not be inclusive but will give an indication of the guidance available.

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005

The HM Government entry level guides to the RRFSO for different types of non-domestic premises and the communal areas in HMOs each have a section entitled “Further guidance on emergency escape lighting”, which provide additional relevant information. The guides can be accessed via this link: Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order guides.