Fire safety policies concerning emergency lighting, means of escape, and fire detection equipment have gone through a number of important changes. The new safety rules affect all non-domestic premises in England and Wales and came into force on October 1, 2006. The new law passes the responsibility of fire safety and emergency lighting to a “responsible person.”

Some facilities are required to keep a minimum level of emergency lighting along the entire means of egress whenever the building is occupied. A lot of the spaces where emergency lighting is required are vacant for large portions of the day. Any building is dark if there is a power failure. The emergency lighting you provide in your workplace will depend on the size of the building.

There might not be any need for emergency lighting if you do not use the building in the night and there are windows to let in natural light. You may be able to use a few torches kept in convenient places for small buildings where few people work. Self-contained emergency light fittings contain a battery charger, a rechargeable battery and a light source, which is usually an 8-watt fluorescent tube.

Some units have spotlights, and these are ideal for taller rooms or large spaces. Emergency lighting units are available in two kinds: "non-maintained" (which come on only in a power failure) or "maintained" (which can be on all the time). The chief reason for emergency lighting is to ensure people can find an exit safely. It is not necessary to use exit sign emergency lights, but this would usually be recommended in addition to normal emergency lighting.

Emergency lighting almost always consists of unattractive boxes fixed to ceilings and walls. There may be no need to supply any emergency lighting for a building if there is no public access after dark and it is otherwise unoccupied. Non-maintained, three-hour emergency exit box lights, which sit on the floor and are plugged into the nearest socket outlet, can provide temporary emergency lighting.

Photoluminescent technology is another option that can lead occupants to safety when the electricity goes out and a building must be evacuated. Powered only by ambient light, photoluminescent safety signs and path markers glow in the dark similar to children’s novelty decals found at any craft store but at a much higher level. Even if you have emergency lighting installed in larger workplaces, we recommend that you make torches available to staff.

A team at the Ryukoku University of Kyoto, Japan has developed new glow-in-the-dark resins that span the entire visible spectrum. These materials do not require any electrical power and can replace the usual blue or green phosphors that now constitute emergency lighting. Warmer colours can decrease the sense of unease experienced by people in an emergency situation, and give a better contrast and legibility when looking for an exit through heavy smoke or dust.

The new photoluminescent materials use rare earth-borne pigments of heavy metals such as strontium, barium, europium, boron, arsenic, mercury and cadmium. Compared to conventional zinc sulphide PL the visible after glow persists for 3 days rather than 5 hours. The new PL comes along with new product designs such as after-glowing handrails for use in utility service tunnels or complex industry structures.

If you use ordinary battery-powered lights, switches are usually wired into the circuits to help you test your emergency lighting systems. If you use torches, simply check that they work by briefly turning on the torch on a weekly basis and change the batteries every few months to make sure that they aren’t flat when you need to use them. Make sure you keep a record of when you tested your emergency lights.