One of my pet peeves in safety is emergency egress lighting. From not having any to having some serious deficiencies in the setup and functioning of the lighting. OSHA has failed to establish a minimum lighting intensity for this emergency lighting. OSHA has established the brightness for EXIT signs, but when it comes to the egress path lighting OSHA has not QUANTIFIED its minimum so we have to turn elsewhere if we really want to manage this last layer of protection.
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1008.3.5 Illumination level under emergency power Emergency lighting facilities shall be arranged to provide initial illumination that is NOT LESS THAN AN AVERAGE of 1 footcandle (11 lux) and a MINIMUM AT ANY POINT of 0.1 footcandle (1 lux) measured along the path of egress at floor level. Illumination levels shall be permitted to decline to 0.6 footcandle (6 lux) average and a minimum at any point of 0.06 footcandle (0.6 lux) at the end of the emergency lighting time duration. A maximum-to-minimum illumination uniformity ratio of 40 to 1 shall not be exceeded. In Group I-2 occupancies, failure of a single lamp in a luminaire shall not reduce the illumination level to less than 0.2 footcandle (2.2 lux). |
I do not recommend we play the game of averages along the path, as that opens a can of worms! But a simple $50 light/lumen meter and a yardstick can help us inspect/audit this critical part of our emergency action/emergency response plans. The 1-foot candle is REALLY low light conditions, so the bar is not set high. But this is an annual activity that should be completed and MORE IMPORTANTLY, any new structure should have this design requirement in its specs. Keep in mind, the height at which these units will be installed WILL BE A FACTOR in their ability to meet the requirements.