Many reports have already been published of cases where people have not been compliant with emergency lighting regulations.
After an incident, you won’t want to be defending your fire safety arrangements as the bare minimum to comply with the law.
It’s far better, surely, to pay a small premium for peace of mind and demonstrate that your emergency lighting rated as the industry’s best practice, and that you exceeded the minimum where you could.
Some top tips to ensure you are protected:
– Specify three hour instead of one hour. The minimum legal duration of emergency lighting is one hour (BS-EN1838). However, it’s wise to adopt best practice and over-specify to three hours (see BS 5266-) as it will allow the premises to be reoccupied immediately.
– Avoid fire hoods. Without care, these can easily overheat the recessed light fitting. You’re also relying on the contractor to ensure the ceiling integrity after installation. It’s better to use a certified fire-rated downlight in the first place.
– Ensure you can see the indicator LEDs. The red and green indicator LEDs are vital for a visual inspection of your emergency lighting installation, yet often they’re obscured by glare and clutter. Take special care with downlights, which are often too bright.
– Use reputable products. Alarmingly, a year after the Grenfell Tower fire there is still a lot of substandard emergency lighting products on the UK market. Give yourself peace of mind by specifying, at a minimum, equipment from ICEL or BAFE members.
– Consider integrating fire alarms and emergency lighting. Connecting your fire alarm system with the emergency lighting network ensures that the latter illuminates in the event that the fire alarm is triggered, and irrespective of whether or not the mains feed is available.
At the moment, the LED lighting range has never been wider, and improvements in the technology are making it even easier for installers to choose the right lighting for their clients.
The versatile downlight
The first example of this is the Bell Lighting Firestay Dimmable LED fittings, which include a selectable colour temperature. The user simply sets the switch to either 3000K, 4000K or 6000K, and there is a front mounted colour switch located under the magnetic bezel, on both the fixed and centre tilt versions. Simply remove the magnetic bezel to be able to switch the colour while the fitting is in the ceiling.
When coupled with the white and satin bezels – options included as standard – this provides six combinations in one box! The versatility of this product is exceptional, as you can use the quick fix connector which has loop in / loop out terminals, and a quick release for ease of insulation resistance testing. The new Microprocessor controlled dimmer module is a universal trailing edge dimmer. Its automatic self adjusting technology removes the need to set or adjust a trim switch, and provides completely silent, flicker free dimming.
Boosted with a seven-year guarantee and 50,000 hours life, this product is one the installer can have full faith in.
Smart connected lighting
The hot topic in the lighting industry is smart connected lighting. Many of the top brands are bringing out solutions to transform how lighting functions so that it is mor
e intelligent, programmable and flexible.
This segment will focus on the Ansell Octo. OCTO is a revolutionary smart lighting system designed to make you rethink the way you use the luminaires in your home. OCTO’s state-of-the-art Bluetooth technology offers the ultimate lighting experience. Set numerous scenes and animations that can be timed to wake you up in the morning, drift off in the evening, or even make it seem like someone is home whilst you’re away on holiday.
The OCTO lighting app is loaded with helpful content to ensure users get the most from The LED Specialist’s connected lighting solution. With videos, helpful guides, inspiration and a dedicated area for installers, it is the perfect tool to assist in the set up and control of the OCTO system.
The main benefits of the OCTO system are:
– Easy to use, wireless controllable lighting system
– Intuitive operation and set-up via a smart device
– No need for an external gateway device
– Automatically forms a fast-wireless mesh network
– OCTO powered by Casambi devices can be added
– Device firmware can be updated over the air
– Cloud services enhances user experience
– Smart lighting control switches can be easily added
For further information, contact the The LED Specialist and visit www.theledspecialist.co.uk