Emergency Exit Signs

[ojc123]

Our fire officer and local authority were ok about our signs having green gel over them. I asked specifically when they inspected and OK'd it. I guess it comes down to the individual fire officer or Local authority. They understood the problem and were helpful. Their angle was that the signs were very clearly visible with the green gel in.

[mikienorth]

A couple of quickies, which may expand a little more as I type.

 

Emergency Lighting is a very difficult thing to make decisions on without external consultation. This is because at design stage of a new building, or refurbishment, the emergency lighting scheme and fire alarm plans are laid out and intitially approved by the licensing bodies to aid and speed up granting of a final license.

 

 

In licensed buildings, there is a minimum light level, especially over changes of level, for instance steps or ramps. Exit routes must generally be permanently waymarked, which are the illuminated boxes, and, generally these are permanently illuminated, turned off in some instances by a 'last man out' switch which does what it says. This does also include the fitting of a colour to a luminaire, as this does diminish it's light output, and, should this be a possible solution to the dimming of an emergency, and a fire officer find it unexpectedly, then trouble does ensue.

 

Regulation and conditions vary due to the intended main use of a space as well as from town to town, so changing your property's emergency lighting scheme on the say-so of anyone except your local fire officer's/licensing body is a massive gamble.

 

This minimum light level and regulations requiring the permanent illumination of areas changes from authourity to authourity, in some areas, for example, a light over a step may only have to come on when the power fails, in others, it has to always be on, so a general rule of thumb or what is written in a book may well be wrong as far as your local officers are concerned, as I found out to my cost back in my construction days. The type of system may also be specified by the authourity, by which I mean either central battery systems of self contained luminaires.

 

Imagine if you had stopped down or coloured down your emergencies, and, in the event of an evacuation occurring people could not see the doors, or fell in an aisle because it was too dark, and were trampled or crushed, or god forbid, burned alive.

In the investigation that followed, on the route those corpses or charred mounds of mutilated flesh were found on, that is was found that a lower wattage lamp had been used than is sufficient to provide a minimum light output. Imagine if traces of colour or ND gel were found having dripped onto the floor or bodies. Imagine if none of this had been agreed by the local authourities.

Do you expect to be able to say 'But M'lud the blackout wasn't good enough for the show, so we had to do something' And for the judge to say 'I understand the show is more important than human life Mr X, you are free to go' Do you expect the fire officers to cover for your mistake, and say 'we knew it was there, and it was wrong and we didn't care' Or, rather, 'We had not been informed of any planned modifications to the emergency lighting scheme' Or 'We had informed the venue on this date that the lighting was inadequate and needed immediate modification'

Would you expect to get away with it?

Sorry for being graphic, but it illustrates worse case situations, which is why these systems exist.

 

Remember emergencies carrying their own batteries should have the batteries replaced after 3 or 5 years in use, as they fail over time.

 

Emergency lighting systems should also be regularly checked, I think it is weekly, to see if they do operate when a power failure is simulated.

 

Finally, in 1996, the EU law required that all exits be marked with a pictogram of a running man, and the words emergency exit, exit, way out, and any other wording not actually be deemed neccesary. In short, if your building is still getting a license granted every year with no pictures over the doors, I would expect a problem soon. There was a changeover period, but I recall that it ended before the century did...

This is because, surprisingly, that not all Europe speaks a common language, so if we are wanting to leave quickly, and take the rest of our european brothers and sisters with us, we all have to know which way to go.

 

Remember, a Fire Inspection can be carried out at any time, or so I always have been told, and, if a public building is deemed unsfae by the fire officer, he can reasonably expect it to be closed until rectified. I reckon if your actions in lowering the lighting or altering the system caused that shutdown, your job would also be shutdown pretty fast too.

I have seen Fire Officers visit a venue during a show, luckily, they left happy.

 

I learnt a lot of this whilst serving an apprenticeship in the construction industry, installing electrical services in hotels, restaurants, bowling alleys, bars, gyms, clubs and the odd studio thatre/art gallery all over the UK. What worked in one town was too severe for others or was not good enough. In some areas, a bar will not get a license unless it is wired in a particular cable, and every fifth cable tie on a tray network is metallic, for example (a London Borough)

 

A good relationship with your licensing bodies goes a long way. Be pro-active, and ask them to advise before you do it, give them as much help as you can, so when you need their help, it is much more forthcoming. Again, keeping them informed of anything that is a potential problem is better than them finding out about it too late, or by mistake.