What is BS EN 50172:2024 - Emergency escape lighting systems about?
To safeguard building occupants, emergency lighting should operate when the local normal mains lighting fails. To ensure this happens, BS EN 50172:2024 details operational requirements for emergency escape lighting in non-residential buildings.
Who is BS EN 50172:2024 - Emergency escape lighting systems for?
- architects;
- building facilities staff;
- electrical designers;
- electrical inspectors; and
- fire services.
What does BS EN 50172:2024 - Emergency escape lighting systems cover?
BS EN 50172:2024 provides electrical emergency escape lighting system installation requirements, together with verification, operation and maintenance documentation and test requirements for such systems.
Why should you use BS EN 50172:2024 - Emergency escape lighting systems?
- Safety: Emergency escape lighting is a key element of building safety and critical to preventing harm and saving lives in emergencies.
- Performance: BS EN 50172:2024 includes requirements for initial verification and continuous system monitoring and maintenance, ensuring long-term performance, which is just as essential as initial proper installation.
- Compliance: BS EN 50172:2024 helps users and suppliers of systems demonstrate their adherence to fire safety legislation and to comply with legal requirements throughout Europe in relation to installation and monitoring of emergency lighting.
- Flexibility: As systems and how they operate become more complicated, BS EN 50172:2024 defines safety controls in a way that ensures system variants can be configured and will still give safe illumination in an emergency. It also identifies which standards should be used to ensure a suitable quality of equipment is incorporated in the systems and provides information for them to be used correctly.
- Relevancy: BS EN 50172:2024 has been completely revised to reflect current technology and practice; commissioning, testing and recording procedures have been expanded to cover a wider range of types of system and application; plus the layout has been updated to align it with current equipment and operational practices.
- User friendly: BS EN 50172:2024 also details procedures that should be avoided. For example, plug and socket joints in the supply system should not be used within arm’s reach as this would not provide any protection against accidental disconnection.
What has changed?
BS EN 50172 has been completely rewritten and now provides more details of the electrical installation required to support the system. Normative references have been updated to reflect new standards/editions published since the last edition.
We have also added:
1. new requirements for system ‘handover’ and documentation;
2. new requirements for automatic test systems;
3. informative annexes for rated duration and activation times, and on-site luminance and illuminance measurements; and
4. references to newer battery technologies.