Emergency lighting is a vital service that is pretty often forgotten until a disaster occurs. The occupants of New York’s World Trade Center Towers had minutes to leave, and most escaped in darkness. Even if you’re familiar with the building you work in, a forced evacuation is never easy, and that is why egress procedures and emergency lighting are mandatory in every workplace.

Some facilities are required to keep a minimal level of emergency lighting along the entire means of egress whenever the building is occupied. The means of egress may be more than just the aisles and main corridors, and emergency lighting may have to extend from each exit to every location where people might normally be found. Any building is dark if there is a power failure.

Emergency lighting will also be necessary if there is a fire in the building, as this could cut the electrical supply. You may be able to use a few torches kept in convenient places for small buildings where few people work. Some torches have a charger, which plugs into a mains socket, and these torches usually come on automatically when the mains power fails.

Emergency lighting units are available in two kinds: "non-maintained" (which come on only in a power failure) or "maintained" (which can be on all the time). Non-maintained units are more common, but maintained lights should be installed for exits and exit signs. Emergency lighting almost always consists of unattractive boxes fixed to ceilings and walls.

The first question to ask is whether emergency lighting is really necessary at all. Photoluminescent technology is another option that can lead occupants to safety when the electricity goes out and a building must be evacuated. The purpose of this technology is not the illumination of a space, but rather to provide definition so people can orient themselves.

Lights should be installed along corridors, near fire exits and fire extinguishers or fire alarm call points. It might not be possible to install normal emergency lighting in some buildings because it might interfere with historic features. All emergency lights need to be checked periodically. All mains powered units need to be tested for a functional test for about 10 minutes every month.

Though power outages don’t happen that often, it’s very important that when they do occur, your building is duly equipped with emergency lighting that can illuminate a path of safety for the people inside. There are many different emergency lighting options for facilities; choices range from torches to simple wall-mounted units to complex systems integrated into your building’s primary lighting system.

Most commercial buildings meet current safety codes for exit and emergency lighting. If you want to maximise safety in your facility, here are some suggestions:

• Install LED exit signs and emergency lights. These alternative lighting sources can provide long lasting, energy efficient emergency lighting and signage that offers solid-state reliability and requires less maintenance and battery-draw from backup sources.
• “Smart” emergency lighting that monitors battery voltage, lamp continuity, incoming utility power and unit performance every 10 seconds, alerting you to a component problem almost immediately.
  
• LED pathway and step lighting. This type of lighting is already used in cinemas, and is an excellent option for your business.

Modern emergency lighting is installed in virtually every commercial and high-occupancy residential building. The modern emergency floodlight provides a high-lumen, wide coverage light that can illuminate an area quite well. Some lights are halogen, and provide a light source and intensity similar to that of an automobile headlight. Modern lights are only as large as ordinary light bulbs, and have batteries that fit into the base of the fixture.