Feature Emergency Lighting FIA Guide to the UK Fire Safety Industry
‘Bridging the Gap Between Fire and Emergency Lighting Systems’ recently served as
one of the webinars in Fire Safety Matters’ ongoing series. The event was chaired
and moderated by Mark Sennett (CEO at Western Business Media). Here, Fire Safety
Matters’ Editor Brian Sims outlines the main takeaways from the online session
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IAN WATTS is chair of the Fire
Industry Association’s (FIA) Emergency
Lighting Working Group. He’s vice-chair
of the Industry Committee for
Emergency Lighting at the Lighting
Industry Association. He serves as the
convenor of CEN Technical Committee
169 Working Group 3 focused on
emergency lighting in buildings which is
leading the revision of EN 1838 to align
its content with the EN 50172
application standard. He’s the FIA’s UK
representative in relation to BS 5266-1
(the Code of Practice for Emergency
Lighting) and delivers training for the
FIA and the British Fire Consortium.
In short, webinar chair Mark Sennett
couldn’t have chosen a more
knowledgeable individual to lead off a
discussion about how the sector might
‘bridge the gap’ between today’s fire and
emergency lighting systems. Watts’ own
father Chris has been chair of the BS
5266 Committee for some time now. For
his part, his son was keen to deliver
some insight into how the FIA is
supporting the development (and
benefits) of standardisation in this area.
“We need to develop and grow the
contextual understanding that
emergency lighting is a life safety system
and a fire safety system,” enthused
Watts. “I’m confident in the work of the
FIA’s Emergency Lighting Group. It can
work alongside the Association and,
potentially, seek to lobby Parliament on
the area of strict compliance. At the
moment, it’s not illegal to fit non-certified,
non-approved emergency
lighting. That cannot be right.”
Showcasing a slide on Foundation
Course standards for emergency
lighting, Watts stated: “The important
factor for me, and I hope for diligent
individuals in the market, is compliance
with EN 60598-2-22 the product
standard for emergency luminaires.
Sadly, there’s a lot of product that’s
‘designed to meet the requirements of’
or is ‘manufactured in accordance with’.
That’s not the same as ‘certified to’. From
a personal perspetive, I would always
heavily promote the benefits of a life
safety or fire safety product of this
nature that strictly meets the
requirements clearly detailed and laid
down by the standard.”
Revision is due
EN 1838 stipulates the European light
levels for the market. Those levels are
being revised across the next 12 to 18
months which will then facilitate a
direct uplift and alteration of BS 5266.
The current version of the latter stems
from 2016 so a revision will, according
to Watts, be due in two years’ time.
In addition to fostering the belief that
training on emergency lighting to prove
Emergency lighting