What Is Emergency Lighting and How to Design One
No one likes being caught in the dark, especially in a busy building. That’s where emergency lighting steps in. When the main power fails, it automatically switches on to light exits, corridors, and key areas so everyone can move safely. It’s a simple feature that makes a big difference, and in the UK, it’s also a legal requirement for most commercial and public buildings. In this guide, you’ll learn what emergency lighting is, the rules it follows, the main types, and how to design and maintain a reliable system.
What Is Emergency Lighting?
Emergency lighting is a backup lighting system that automatically activates when the main power supply fails. In the UK, emergency lighting is a legal requirement for most public, commercial, and multi-occupancy buildings. It forms a vital part of fire safety planning, helping to prevent panic and guide occupants through escape routes when smoke or darkness reduces visibility. By keeping corridors, stairways, and exits illuminated during an outage, emergency lighting helps protect lives and ensures compliance with national safety standards.
What Are the Standard Regulations for Emergency Lighting
In the UK, emergency lighting must comply with a hierarchy of legal obligations and technical standards to ensure safety, effectiveness, and enforceability. The key frameworks that govern emergency lighting are:
Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
Establishes the legal duty for owners and occupiers to provide and maintain emergency lighting in all non-domestic premises.
BS 5266-1: Code of Practice for Emergency Lighting of Premises
The main British Standard covering system design, installation, and testing to ensure safe evacuation during power failures.
BS EN 1838: Lighting Applications – Emergency Lighting
Specifies illumination levels, uniformity, glare control,and response times required for escape routes and open areas.
BS EN 50172 / BS 5266-8: Emergency Escape Lighting Systems
Defines testing frequency, maintenance schedules, and record-keeping procedures** to ensure ongoing compliance and safety.
Different Types of Emergency Lighting
Emergency lighting systems fall into several categories, each serving a distinct purpose:
1. Escape Route Lighting
Escape route lighting is designed to keep the path to safety clearly visible when the mains supply fails. It illuminates corridors, staircases, exits, and directional changes, ensuring people can navigate the way out safely. You’ll need these along every designated escape route, at floor level and on walls, so occupants can see where to walk and avoid obstructions.
2. Open Area Lighting
Open area lighting, also called anti-panic lighting, fills large spaces—such as halls, lobbies or assembly rooms—with gentle, uniform illumination. Its goal is to prevent panic and maintain a sense of orientation until occupants reach an escape route. Use it in areas larger than about 60 m² or spaces where occupants might be far from visible exits.
3. High-Risk Task Area Lighting
In areas where machinery, hazardous equipment, or processes are in use, high-risk task area lighting provides extra brightness to allow safe shutdown or evacuation. It’s typically installed above or near control panels, utility rooms, laboratories, plant rooms, or any zone where a misstep in darkness could cause injury or damage.
4. Stay-Put / Emergency Safety Lighting
Stay-put lighting applies in buildings where occupants could remain temporarily instead of evacuating immediately—such as in care homes or shelters. It maintains light for safe occupancy until evacuation is necessary.
How to Design an Emergency Lighting System
Designing an emergency lighting system isn’t just for workplaces or public spaces — it’s equally valuable at home. Here’s how to design a safe, reliable setup for any environment.
For Commercial and Public Buildings
Setting up emergency lighting for commercial and public premises requires structured planning and adherence to UK safety standards.
Assess Risks and Requirements: Begin with a risk assessment that examines building size, occupancy, and usage. Identify escape routes, open areas, and high-risk task zones where lighting is critical during power failure.
Follow Lighting Standards: Under BS 5266-1, escape routes must have at least 1 lux along the floor’s centre line, open areas need 0.5 lux, and high-risk task areas should maintain about 10% of normal brightness to allow safe shutdowns.
Select the Right System: Choose between self-contained luminaires, which each include their own battery and are simple to install, or central battery systems, where one backup source powers multiple lights for easier monitoring and maintenance. Whichever option you select, design the system so that illumination continues even if one circuit fails, ensuring reliability during an emergency.
Plan Duration and Cabling: Most systems should operate for 3 hours after power loss. Use fire-resistant cables and separate circuits to avoid total failure. Add accessible test points for monthly functional checks and annual discharge tests.
Commission and Verify: After installation, a qualified engineer must test and certify the system. Provide full documentation, including layout drawings and maintenance logs, to ensure compliance and reliability.
For Residential Homes
While domestic buildings don’t have to meet commercial standards, adopting similar safety principles greatly improves home resilience during blackouts.
Identify Key Areas
Start with the essentials — stairs, hallways, kitchens, and exits. Use plug-in emergency lamps or rechargeable LED emergency lights that switch on automatically when mains power fails. Motion-sensor lights can also guide movement safely at night.
Add Backup Power
Start with a portable power station.
The EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 Portable Power Station + Smart Extra Battery switches to backup mode in about 10ms, so your lights stay on without flicker. Its scalable storage (from household-scale kWh up to ~12 kWh with extra batteries) and family-scale AC output (up to 4,000 W), plus support for up to 2,600 W of solar input, let you recharge fast by day and sustain critical loads through extended outages.
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 Portable Power Station + Smart Extra Battery
If you already use a home battery storage, you can connect your emergency lights to it for extended power. The battery manages short interruptions and ensures your lighting stays consistent while the main supply recovers. For homes in areas with frequent or long power cuts, pairing your system with best generator for home backup power is a smart step.
Maintain Regularly
Test your emergency lights monthly to ensure they switch on properly, and keep the fixtures clean so brightness remains consistent. Check the condition and remaining capacity of both the lights and the backup power equipment (for example, a unit like the EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 Portable Power Station shows real-time charge level and battery health through its app, simplifying maintenance).
EcoFlow DELTA Pro 3 Portable Power Station
Maintenance Tips for Reliable Emergency Lighting
Reliable emergency lighting depends not just on design and installation, but on diligent maintenance. The following practices help ensure your system works when it’s needed most.
Monthly Functional Tests
At least once a month, simulate a mains power cut by switching off the regular supply or pressing the test button so that each emergency luminaire runs on its battery. Verify that lights turn on and the green indicator lamp is steady. Record the date, results and any faults in your logbook.
Annual Full-Duration Test
Once a year you must test the system’s full capability: cut the mains and let emergency lighting run for the required duration (typically 1-3 hours depending on building use) to ensure batteries and lamps operate as designed.
Visual Inspection and Cleaning
Check all emergency lights and exit signs for damage, obstruction or dirt. Make sure signage is clearly visible and luminaire lenses are clean. Obstructions, blocked vents or dimming reduce effectiveness during an emergency.
Use Professional Servicing When Needed
While basic checks can be done in-house, a full service by a qualified specialist ensures wiring, battery banks or central-battery systems are evaluated for wear or changes in building use. A professional can also advise on upgrades or replacement components.
Conclusion
Emergency lighting is a vital part of any UK safety plan, ensuring visibility, compliance and peace of mind during unexpected power cuts or emergencies. By understanding the relevant standards, selecting the correct lighting types and keeping up with regular maintenance, you can protect both people and property from avoidable risks. To take your resilience a step further, you may also decide to build home battery backup system that supports not just lights but critical circuits and appliances when mains power fails.
FAQs
What are the legal requirements for emergency lighting?
In the UK, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 makes it a legal duty for the “responsible person” to provide and maintain emergency lighting in most non-domestic buildings. This ensures that escape routes stay lit if the main power fails. To meet this duty, systems are usually designed and tested to BS 5266-1, the main British Standard covering layout, performance, and maintenance. Supporting standards such as BS EN 1838 and BS EN 50172 define illumination levels, uniformity, and test procedures. In short, emergency lighting is a legal requirement wherever people may need to evacuate safely in low visibility.
What is emergency lighting?
Emergency lighting is a backup lighting system that switches on automatically when the main power supply fails. Its purpose is to provide enough illumination for people to move safely through escape routes, find exits, and avoid obstacles during emergencies such as fires or power cuts. It can be powered by built-in batteries or a central backup supply, ensuring continuous light even in a total outage. In the UK, emergency lighting is a legal requirement in most commercial, public, and multi-occupancy buildings, forming an essential part of fire safety planning and helping to prevent panic in low-visibility situations.
Do all buildings need emergency lighting?
Not every building needs full emergency lighting, but most non-domestic premises—such as offices, shops, schools, and shared residential buildings—do. The rule of thumb is simple: if people might be inside when lights go out and it could become dark or confusing, emergency lighting is required. Private single-family homes usually don’t need it, but HMOs and flats with shared corridors must have it in communal areas. The exact requirement depends on your fire risk assessment, which identifies where illumination is needed for a safe evacuation.
Is emergency lighting 1 hour or 3 hours?
UK standards generally require 3 hours of emergency lighting duration after a power failure, following BS 5266-1. This duration ensures the system can support safe evacuation and allow time for re-entry once power is restored. However, a 1-hour system can be acceptable in buildings where immediate evacuation is guaranteed and the building will remain empty until batteries recharge. In practice, most designers and inspectors prefer 3-hour systems—they’re safer, widely accepted, and future-proof if the building’s use changes later on.