ADVICE & OPINION
COMPLIANCE
EMERGENCY LIGHT TESTING
In association with
Regular testing of emergency lighting is a safety-critical process that is central to
a building’s fi re safety compliance. René Joppi, Managing Director at Mackwell,
says the design and installation of emergency lighting should be in line with the
building’s risk assessment and local legislation www.mackwell.com
For smaller facilities management teams
in charge of a number of buildings, the
mandatory testing and maintenance of a lighting
system as well as routine physical inspections of
the luminaires and associated components is not
a quick task. Traditionally, this testing process has
been completed manually, involving a key switch
on a wall, with maintenance engineers physically
observing whether systems are still working.
Today this testing can be completely automated,
and in new build projects, it has been common
for several years for automatic emergency testing
systems to be written into the building specification.
However, di iculty in retrofitting such systems
to existing buildings has caused testing in those
structures to remain manual. To further complicate
matters, newer smart buildings might be designed
around converged IP networks, with devices
connected via ethernet, rather than having traditional
mains power feeds. These di erent scenarios create
complexity for those managing estates consisting of
both old and new buildings as there are a multitude
of testing models and scenarios to consider when
managing emergency lighting.
UNDERSTANDING MANUAL TESTING
Manual testing consists of breaking the supply to a
section of emergency lighting and visually checking
the light output at the start and end of the expected
duration. An engineer must visually inspect each
luminaire for damage or any impairment of the
desired light. Once completed, all results must be
logged and maintenance scheduled for any failures
found.
Commercial buildings such as student
accommodation blocks, o ice premises or hospitals
employ many people while also accommodating
14 MARCH 2022
members of the public. It would not be unusual for
them to have over 1,000 emergency lighting fixtures
installed, which must all be maintained, cleaned,
visually inspected, tested, and recorded into the
building log book. These are all legal requirements
to ensure the safety of the occupants in times of
evacuation.
However, manual testing can be disruptive to
employees and an engineer must be available out
of hours to conduct tests during a period of low risk,
ideally when the building is unoccupied.
Automatic testing systems o er a solution, but
being a critical part of the fire safety risk assessment,
organisations can’t simply shirk their responsibilities
on emergency lighting tests. Instead, they need to be
vigilant in streamlining tasks even in older buildings
where testing is not as quick, or as easy.
TESTING SYSTEMS POWERED BY
CLOUD TECHNOLOGY
By deploying an intelligent operating system with
diagnostic capabilities, a high level of control can
be achieved e ectively and e iciently in both new
builds and older structures. Protocols such as
Digital Addressable Lighting Interface (DALI) allows
for additional commands and functions from each
manufacturer to improve user experience. Additional
functions vary greatly but can include, on board
diagnostics of the luminaire and extended controls to
inhibit emergency or periodically drain the batteries
to increase product life.
Both simple to use and intuitive with live system
status diagnostics for instant information, these
systems allow facilities managers to view reports
remotely through internet connection via a variety of
networking options. Furthermore, users are able to
connect all systems across various sites to one central
cloud dashboard that shows exactly where each
emergency lighting solution is located. It automates
testing and identifies any faults or potential risks, and
even measures and flags which batteries need to be
replaced.
This solution is particularly helpful when it comes
to managing varying types of buildings such as old,
new, refurbished, smart or non-smart. Each individual
building will have varying testing needs, based on its
own fire risk assessment and the type of structure it
is as outlined above. Not only do these cloud-based
devices help facilities managers to diversify the types
of buildings they are managing at one time, but also
the types of solutions going into each building.
Where existing solutions have been able to deal
with around 100 devices connected to one cloudbased
panel, there are now new advancements in
the market that are able to accommodate over 1,000
devices on a single panel. From a scaling perspective,
this is a revolutionary step.
THE FUTURE IS AUTOMATED
It’s clear that automatic testing of emergency
lighting o ers peace of mind that a building is safe
for all employees or residents and compliant to all
regulations and law, but also the potential monetary
savings. In labour alone, a system can save many
hours of work.
It must be said that automatic test systems are not a
substitute for routine maintenance. Visual inspection
of both the emergency lighting components together
with acknowledgment of any building changes must
be undertaken routinely. Automatic test systems
serve as a vital and welcome compliment to assist
facilities management teams to carry out this
demanding and vital role diligently, conscientiously
and accurately.
/www.mackwell.com
