Industrial Emergency Lighting Requirements

This brings us to task lighting and emergency lighting.

Industrial emergency lighting requirements.

Task and emergency lighting. Lamps and power sources must be periodically tested to verify that they continue to function in accordance with code requirements. All emergency lighting systems regardless of their power source must be tested monthly for a period of at least 30 seconds. All exit routes in a building including hallways stairwells and corridors must be illuminated with emergency backup lights so anyone with normal vision can see the path to the exit.

Nfpa 101 the life safety code and the international building code ibc require emergency lighting in all commercial and industrial buildings to facilitate emergency egress of people from the building and to reduce the possibility of panic in buildings during the exiting of large numbers of people during an emergency. Emergency lights are essential in any building particularly those with high volumes of users. And while osha does not have any regulations specific to emergency lighting the nfpa s life safety code addresses the topic in detail. In the first 1 5 hours after a failure emergency lighting must provide an average of one foot candle and no less than 0 1 foot candle at any point along the path of egress.

Task lighting is lighting aimed at a specific area to assist in a specific job. The importance of emergency lights. Commercial industrial institutional educational religious medical and many other building types generally require emergency lighting. Testing requirements for emergency lighting appear in nfpa 101 7 9 3.

This section specifies the requirements for how bright emergency lighting must be and how long it must be provided in the event of failure of normal lighting.