EMERGENCY LIGHTING SYSTEMS
energy-efficient lighting, which helps to lower electricity bills and carbon dioxide emissions, all without reducing the quality of light in our homes. Within the healthcare sector, many have also made the switch to energy-efficient light sources to light rooms and corridors, but sadly there are many who still haven’t updated their emergency lighting to be more efficient. There are significant potential savings to running costs, as well as carbon footprint reductions, when switching to a more efficient system, because older emergency lighting uses bigger and more expensive batteries incorporating more materials, such as Lithium, Nickel, and Cadmium etc. Older light sources also have a far shorter life expectancy, increasing both the risk of failures and maintenance costs, as well as reducing safety. The power consumed by emergency lighting is deemed ‘parasitic’. This is the power consumed by the device while the emergency lighting is in a non-operational or standby mode. In emergency language this would be a non-maintained emergency luminaire that functions in the event of a mains failure. The system and luminaires are connected to the mains, and will continue to draw power to maintain sufficient charge in the batteries for a three-hour discharge duration.
What are the benefits of emergency lighting systems with automatic testing? Using automatic testing systems for emergency lighting can provide many benefits, the most obvious being fewer maintenance tasks. It also creates a lower overall cost of ownership, i.e., the long- term costs and expenses incurred during the product’s useful life and ultimate disposal are a lower, and thus offer better value in the long run. Emergency lighting automatic test
systems can generate a full report detailing the state of each individual luminaire, which is recorded, and can be accessed via software. The condition of the battery and light source functionality are also tested. This whole process happens automatically, and without any human intervention. However, as mentioned earlier, when it comes to interpreting the results of a report, a competent person still needs to validate the results and act if necessary. These actions combined provide peace of mind that the installation is safe and compliant.
What does the future of emergency lighting look like, and how might my building benefit? Today customers are demanding a more personalised and instant experience, so it makes sense for healthcare estates (of any size) to harness the power of next generation technology to become leaner, more agile, and in some cases safer. Life safety manufacturers and system
62 Health Estate Journal September 2023
To achieve a successful and compliant emergency lighting design and installation in busy hospitals and other healthcare premises, building designers, installers, electrical engineers, and contractors, need to work together.
designers are utilising the power of the cloud to enhance their emergency lighting offering to the industry, and enable instant access to critical data, particularly in an emergency. A networked lighting system which
allows for ‘cloud ‘reporting means that building management teams for hospitals can remotely monitor performance and safety alongside other building systems ‘24/7’. Messages in real time via mobile text messages or email can also be sent to the responsible person, meaning that engineers can fix some minor problems remotely without even needing to travel to site, or without having someone who may not know what they are looking at relaying the information over the phone. The biggest benefits here are a reduction in site visit costs, and a lower risk of human error.
Schedules of maintenance can also be
organised via the cloud, where the system monitors the lifecycle of different devices within a networked lighting system. This creates a more proactive approach, and allows repairs to happen before any potential malfunctions occur. Another benefit of cloud-based
emergency lighting technology for healthcare is that it is easily scalable and flexible to the unique circumstances of the building or buildings in which it resides. This is perfect for educational settings, healthcare, high-rise, mixed use commercial, or industrial applications, where multiple sites can be monitored from a central location – all of which can be catered for via the cloud. These are just some of the questions
that need to be asked when implementing a new emergency lighting system into a healthcare setting. It is important both to understand the unique circumstances of the building you are responsible for, and to ensure that the emergency lighting system
Martin Green
Martin Green is the Commercial Training and Support manager at Hochiki Europe. With almost 30 years’ experience in the life safety industry, he has extensive knowledge when it comes to life safety systems, their applications, compliance, and industry best practice.
Established in Japan in 1918, Hochiki is an independent, multinational, publicly-listed company with over 1700 employees across the globe. One of the world’s leading manufacturers of commercial and industrial fire detection and emergency lighting solutions, Hochiki says it has ‘acquired global acceptance as the benchmark for high-integrity and long-term reliability’.
meets all legislative requirements and is fit for purpose. Equally vital is ‘vetting’ the companies you choose to work with, to ensure that they have the relevant experience, and also that they work with products that are from reputable and trusted manufacturers.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
