We tend to think of emergency lighting being used in emergency situations, such as major incidents, fires, or total black-outs. In reality emergency lighting is often used in less severe scenarios but can help prevent the escalation of a small incident into a large-scale disaster.
Imagine a localised storm causing a power cut in your building. In some buildings, at certain times of day this maybe wouldn’t matter. You may have large windows letting in much natural light, it may be light enough outside to see clearly. The only effect would be loss of productivity as your employees’ computers went down. However, imagine your offices don’t have much natural light on the brightest of days, and that it is late in the afternoon in winter, so the sky is already dark. Your power goes out. It can only take one person to panic and try to run, for a seemingly small incident to escalate into a catastrophe.
In research into crowd disasters Prof. Dr. G. Keith Still FIMA FICPEM SFIIRSM MEWI FIPM says “It only takes one or two people to trip in a high density, moving crowd and the consequences are disastrous.”1 Judicious emergency lighting will help to reassure people and keep them calm. Clearly marked exits will help prevent crowd panic, and encourage a steady flow of people towards the emergency exits. Many buildings have insufficient emergency lighting for the numbers of people. Often emergency lighting has been fitted many years earlier and has not been updated to allow for changes to the building, including the number of employees inside. When reviewing your emergency lighting it is important that you fully understand the flow of people and what might happen in an emergency situation. By considering every possibility, we can hopefully safeguard against future accidents.
At Black Pear Electrical we are fully qualified for the installation and testing of emergency lighting. When you contact us, we will review your current emergency lighting and check whether it is sufficient for your requirements. If work needs to be carried out, we can work with you to ensure that we can schedule the work into times that suit your business needs. We always provide a professional, considerate service to ensure that your work is carried out in a careful and competent manner. To book your emergency lighting review, contact Black Pear Electrical today on 01905 700 490
1: Quote reference: (http://www.gkstill.com/CV/ExpertWitness/CrowdDisasters.html)
