No. 10 „Emergency lighting, safety lighting“
ISBN 978-3-926 193-42-1
44 pages
DIN A4
Only as PDF!
Index
No. 10 „Emergency lighting, safety lighting"
- Emergency lighting provides safety
- When power systems fail
- Safety lighting
- Escape route safety lighting
- Anti-panic lighting
- Particularly hazardous workplaces
- Standby lighting
- Safety signs: quality is crucial
- Escape sign luminaires for safety
- Luminaires for safety lighting systems
- Safety lighting operation
- Application examples:
Places of assembly, Restaurants, Sales premises, Accommodation establishments, Sports facilities, Tall and high-rise buildings, Enclosed parking facilities, Schools, Hospitals, Work premises
- Electrical requirements for safety lighting
- Lamps
- Standards
Extract
Power failures
Two „extreme incidents“ are imprinted on many Germans' memory. In November 2005, masts carrying overhead power lines in the Münster area collapsed under the weight of snow and ice, causing a blackout that lasted more than four days. A year later, on 4 November 2006, an event in the Emsland area gave rise to a power outage that left large parts of Europe without electricity for a number of hours: a high-tension cable was shut down to allow a cruise vessel to sail down the Ems River from the Meyer shipyards at Papenburg to the North Sea.
But most power outages are more localised affairs and do not last hours. Germany has the best record in Europe for reliable power supply. However, the number of outage incidents is rising – and the causes are diverse: a violent storm, high winds, earthworks/excavation operations, a fire and a system overload accounted for just five of 27 power failures.
Emergency and safety lighting
No electricity means no lighting. This is when mains-independent emergency lighting needs to kick in. Panic spreads quickly in a building suddenly plunged into darkness – especially if there are many people present and some are not familiar with the surroundings. A blackout in an unknown place for an unknown reason sparks fear. To facilitate orientation and reduce risk of accident, routes out of the building should be marked by a supplementary system of escape route luminaires.
Safety lighting is a must. Where emergency lighting is required, responsibility for installing and maintaining it resides with the operator of the establishment; ensuring that a new or modernised installation complies with regulations is the responsibility of the designer. Failure to comply with the stipulations set out in standards may be judged hazardous building practice, which is an offence punishable under paragraph 319 of the German Criminal Code.
