Emergency lighting signage – A one for all approach

The design and installation of emergency lighting and the exit signage needs to be provided within many types of buildings, as this allows for employees and visitors to safely evacuate the building to a place of safety in the event of an emergency.

The installation of the signage throughout the building should be designed that there is no ambiguity as to the layout and direction that all persons are required to take in order to safely escape from the building in the event of an emergency and to achieve both a compliant solution, and one which provides ease in following, there are a number of documents which outline the requirements for signage.

The code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises, namely BS 5266-1:2016, on safety signs that escape route signs should be located and operated in accordance with BS 5499-4:2013 and that the signs designated as E001 and E002 within BS EN ISO 7010:2012+A5:2015 should be used, with the appropriate directional arrow in accordance with that given within BS 5499-4:2013.

BS 5499-4:2013 is a code of practice for escape route signage and provides general information stating that an escape route signing system should ensure that from any place within a building, where direct sight of the final exit is not possible, directional signs are to be provided so that any person can easily progress safely towards the final exit. In addition, the installation of signage should be clear providing unambiguous directions so that the installed signage can minimise the risk of confusion to all persons attempting to gain escape from any place within the building to reach a place of safety.

The aforementioned document, BS EN ISO 7010:2012+A5:2015 on graphical symbols, relates to the referents and categorisation of safety signs and safety colours, where they are categorized according to their function of indicating an evacuation route, the location of safety equipment or a safety facility, or a safety action. For the summary of signs, E001 is for emergency exit, left hand, and E002 for emergency exit, right hand.

Consultation between all of the interested parties with regard to the project should have been be carried out at an early stage so as to verify the escape routes, open areas and high-risk task areas, the positions of safety equipment and call points as well as the safety signage, where in the event of a failure of the normal supply, the emergency lighting and associated signage will be available to assist in the successful evacuation of the building, by using the escape route direction signage provided, appropriately illuminated.

The lighting designer, will, upon receipt of all the appropriate information in respect of the project for the provision of emergency lighting and the associated signage, make all the relevant calculations and position the signage according to the received information from the client or specifier in respect of the approved routes to exit in the event of an emergency.

For many projects, the list of emergency signage can be reasonably extensive, with the various options from that of recessed, ceiling surface mounted, suspended, wall surface or side arm mounting, through the fitting colour variants and arrow direction, as well as being either non-maintained or maintained alongside whether a self-test solution was required.

All this possible selection can in some cases, make the specification of the signage across a sizeable project somewhat problematic, therefore would it not be beneficial to the specifier, the wholesaler, or the installing contractor if there was just a couple of different options to encompass most variants.

Well, now there is!

The Adler Exit Sign, from Ansell Lighting is that solution.

The Adler LED Exit Sign is a lightweight contemporary in-house designed emergency fitting with multiple installation options, where, having selected just the colour in either a black or white finish, one fitting enables the option to five different mounting options of suspension mounting where a 1 metre suspension cable supplied as standard with the fitting, recessed mounting into the ceiling system, ceiling surface mounting, wall surface mounting or side arm wall mounting. The accessories of the wall bracket or semi-recessing kit are ordered separately in the colour to match the fitting, which means that should the mounting variant change, requiring an accessory, the fitting can stay on site and the accessory ordered to complete the installation.

The fitting can be used as either a Maintained or Non-Maintained option and has a power consumption of just 2 Watts with a colour temperature of 6500K, allowing a viewing distance of 25 metres, and is fitted with a LiFePO4 Lithium battery, all of which provides improved energy consumption, product reliability and lifetime. The Adler has IP20 degree of protection, operating from 0°C through to 40°C and has an L70 lifetime of 50,000 hours. The Self-test emergency option is fitted as standard to the fitting. A 3.2V 1000mAh Li-FeP04 replacement battery can be ordered separately.

The legend signage is provided in two parts for installation into the fitting, which means that the same fitting can offer the option of arrow left, arrow right, arrow up or arrow down, just by positioning and rotating the legends on site, as well as offering a double-sided option when installed either as a suspended, ceiling recessed, ceiling surface or side arm wall mounting solution.

In concluding the Adler Exit Sign offers the advantage of so much more than having to create a long list of separate emergency signage variants, where their use may change on site during installation resulting in a whole new fitting having to be ordered alongside additional cost and possible delay, when the Adler Exit Sign from Ansell Lighting might just need a rotation of signage or at worst a change of mounting, but certainly no new fitting – job done!