The Importance of your Business Emergency Lighting Maintenance

Your business premises should have fully functioning emergency lighting equipped at all times. You must check that your emergency lighting is always in working order. By law, in the event of a fire emergency, it is your responsibility as the business or building owner to provide your staff with working emergency lighting to ensure their safe escape from the building.

Should the worst happen and your emergency lights fail to operate, you could be liable for a fine that can run into the hundreds of thousands of pounds for failing to provide emergency lighting.

After a fire, your premises will be inspected by a fire safety officer and if your building fails to display a number of key health and safety requirements, your insurance could be invalidated, meaning you will be left unable to claim on your insurance to cover your losses.

What health & safety requirements do I need?

As a business owner, if you suffer from a devastating fire emergency your building will be inspected following the fire to establish the cause and to check that your building met all of your health and safety requirements.

With regard to your emergency lighting this can include having adequate emergency lighting in communal areas, any broken emergency lights and insufficient emergency lighting in any areas occupied by your staff, including offices, shop floors and corridors.

In recent times a severe penalty of £400,000 was handed down to a property landlord for providing insufficient emergency lighting – one of the largest financial penalties ever issued to a landlord in the UK.

Emergency lighting isn’t just for fires

Most people will think that you would only ever use your businesses emergency lighting should you be unfortunate enough to suffer from a fire. However, recent warnings coming from The National Grid and Ofgem regarding a higher risk of power cuts over the coming years, now it is more important than ever for making sure that your commercial property is covered by adequate emergency lighting that meets with current UK regulations.

Unfortunately, there are lots of commercial and industrial premises that do not have access to natural daylight, so should a power cut happen the workplace can be suddenly plunged into darkness, presenting obvious health and safety risks to staff working in the area.

Emergency lighting maintenance, installation and servicing

At TFI, our team of expert electrical engineers offer our commercial clients a wide range of emergency and LED lighting. We also install, service and maintain numerous business emergency lighting systems across London and the South East. We use high-quality Ansell and Aurora fittings.

TF Installations Ltd can work closely with you on providing a schedule of emergency lighting maintenance to suit your business needs. This could be yearly or bi-annually testing that includes comprehensive testing and replacement of parts and essential components that will ensure your emergency lighting can be relied upon when you need it.

If you are planning to move business premises and will be inheriting an existing emergency lighting system, we can come out to inspect your system to make sure it is suitable for your individual business needs.

We can test your system to make sure it is in full working order, and make suggestions for upgrades and improvements where necessary to ensure your emergency lighting meets with current health and safety regulations.

What do we test?

It can only take one small element of your emergency lighting system to break for your whole system to fail. This is why we don’t just visually inspect your lighting, we also test each essential component in your system to make sure they work. This includes:

•         Batteries
•         Control equipment
•         Hardwire cabling
•         Luminaries
•         Switches

Once we have conducted a thorough inspection and test of your emergency lighting system we will provide you with an official Emergency Lighting Certificate that you can use as proof that your emergency lighting system was in full working order should you suffer from a fire emergency.

Meeting with your health and safety compliance

A lot of business owners will inherit an existing emergency lighting system when they move premises. When you move premises you need to make sure that your emergency lighting system meets with the latest government regulations.

We can come out to conduct a risk assessment for your business that will include your emergency lighting system. We can inspect and test your system and make recommend changes that will bring your lighting system in line with current health and safety standards.

Our expert team of emergency lighting engineers can perform a complete refit where you have an old, outdated or malfunctioning lighting system, or upgrade your essential components in your existing system to meet with current regulations.

As part of meeting your health and safety compliance, it is essential that you keep your emergency lighting in full working order. Why not contact our friendly team at TFI today to book your inspection.

We will then be able to take you on as a regular client and schedule you a maintenance appointment to suit your business needs. You should also conduct regular testing of your own, but if you find any faults in your emergency lighting system or it sustains accidental damage, we can come out and fix any damaged components and replace any broken fittings you may have. We are here to help!