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Posted By J Fennel
I am having big problems with attempting to get our lighting contractor to pass our emergency lighting as being up to scratch. They keep quoting the reform order and advising that our emergency lighting MUST meet BS 5266 to be compliant with their annual test that was never an issue before.
I am no expert on british standards, but did not think that they were obligatory, or indeed can I find any reference to bs 5266 in the reform order (all 135 pages of it)
Would be grateful if someone could put me straight!
Thanks
J
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Posted By Richard Hammer
Article 14 H of the Fire Safety Order state;
emergency routes and exits requiring illumination must be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in the case of failure of their normal lighting.
Article 17 states;
re subject to a suitable system of maintenance and are maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
To achieve the above we use BS5266 as a bench mark and when it goes tits up you would have to prove to the Court why you were not working towards this Standard.
However it is not Law and can sometimes not be practicable to follow (the daily checks, when the site is unmanned for a start).
Do you know why they are stating the E/L is not in line with BS5266??
What type of E/L is it???
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Posted By SBH
BELOW IS ARTICLE 14 OF THE RRFSO 2005 Seems to be based on risk assessment to decide if you need E.L
Emergency routes and exits
14. —(1) Where necessary in order to safeguard the safety of relevant persons, the responsible person must ensure that routes to emergency exits from premises and the exits themselves are kept clear at all times.
(h) emergency routes and exits requiring illumination must be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity in the case of failure of their normal lighting
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Posted By Ronofcam
J,
BS 5266-10 2008 is a Guide to the design and provision of emergency lighting to reduce the risks from hazards in the event of failure of the normal lighting supply. I can only imagine that your contractor doesn’t think that your emergency lighting complies with the table on page 4 of the standard.
What, exactly, is non-compliant about it? The contractor should have a report or results that spells out why/how it doesn’t comply. If not, they’re flying a kite.
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Posted By J Fennel
That is much clearer. Thanks you all for the help, it is much appreciated.
I understand now that what we need to do is take the points that we fail on the BS and then demonstrate the reason why in a risk assessment. However, I must say that the contractor is adamant that all emergency lighting must be compliant with BS 5266 which is what they perform their annual tests on.
Apparently you only have to fail on one item for your whole system to be refused a pass certificate. We fail on simple things such as our emergency exit signs not being illuminated constantly in our shopping environment because they argue that the customers are unfamiliar with the surroundings, even though a membership is required, all stores are the same and fire exits are situated every 20 foot in an open plan warehouse.
I guess I am still a bit confused about their refusal to issue a pass certificate against something that is BS benchmarking , whereas the other passages from the fire reform order quoted here, we are of course fully compliant, I mean are they forced to use the BS for their annaul emergency lighting test?
J
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Posted By Jay Joshi
I presume that compared to the older version of the standard, the revised standard is more "stringent" regarding the intensity of light measured as specified --something to do with the cenntre line of the escape routes if your is to do with emergency escape lighting. If it is to do with emergency lighting so that you can continue production or occupancy, similar changes have been made regarding the intensity of the lighting. Another more stringent requirement may be the length of time the emergency lighting has to be on with a specified lux level--and for how long the batteries last.
If you are using the emergency lighting for escape purposes only, a risk assessment may justify not upgrading immediately.
Please note that in most cases, it is the insurance companies that make it a condition to comply with the British Standard, therefore should check the fine print of your fire insurance cover or similar--even if it is not a requirement of RFRO 2005.
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