There are five main types of emergency lighting:
Emergency lighting – safety lighting for when normal lighting fails. It should provide prompt, automatic, and timely lighting in a specified area.
Emergency escape lighting – enables safe exit from a building in the event of main power failure to the normal lighting system.
Emergency escape route lighting – visual markers towards safe exits from the building, such as fire door, as well as, in some instances, indication of the location of firefighting and safety equipment.
Open area or anti-panic lighting – for the safe movement of people through the building to the exits. This consists of items such as direction markers, to help prevent panic in certain areas of the building.
High-risk task area lighting – for hazardous areas during the evacuation process, as well as enabling shut down procedures in specific areas.
It is important that the emergency lighting used is correct for the area, else its efficacy will be reduced.
