The need for emergency lighting exists in several industries. This is because it’s an important safety consideration. In the event of an emergency, buildings for industrial and office use, as well as care homes and hospitals need this feature in order to more easily be able to see escape routes and obstacles should some kind of power outage occur.

Emergency Lighting Risk Assessment
Any company in any industry which employs 5 or more persons, whether at one time or not or at the same or separate locations is legally required to carry out an emergency lighting risk assessment. This process allows for the compliance of any lighting installation, emergency or otherwise, with current legislative requirements.

Any business where artificial lighting is installed will be likely to be required to also have emergency lighting in some form installed by a commercial electrician.

Types of Emergency Lighting
The question of whether or not emergency lighting is needed is always a resounding “Yes”. This is because it saves lives.

Escape route lighting allows for the safe exit of employees, and the identification of safety equipment and exit points. Open area lighting reduces the chance of panic among employees, ultimately facilitating slow and safe movement toward escape routes. High risk task area lighting increases the safety of those involved with processes that are potentially dangerous, as well as enables the fast and proper shut down of equipment in the event of an emergency.

The elimination of confusion and anxiety that strategically-placed emergency lighting provides can do a great deal to ensure that all employees in a building are able to exit without injury during an emergency.

Emergency lighting not only greatly assists employees who work on the inside of a building. It can also offer much help to emergency personnel such as firefighters, who may not be familiar with the building and need to be able to see staircases and hallways clearly in order to reach areas of emergency.