Emergency Lighting in Kent

What emergency lighting actually is

Emergency lighting is a separate, battery-backed lighting system that switches on automatically when the mains supply fails. Its only job is to keep escape routes lit long enough for occupants to get out safely. It’s not for general illumination, and it’s not optional — for any premises where it’s required by law, an emergency lighting system designed and installed to BS 5266 is the documentation regulators expect to see.

CJA Electrical fits and tests BS 5266-compliant systems across Kent. The work is mostly for landlords (HMOs and blocks of flats with shared common parts) and letting agents managing buildings where the council has flagged emergency lighting as a licence condition.

When emergency lighting is legally required

The headline rule from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is that any non-domestic premises (and the common parts of mixed-use or multi-occupied premises) must have a fire risk assessment, and the assessment must address the means of escape — including how those escape routes will be lit if the power fails.

In practice, where this lands for a typical Kent property owner:

• HMOs with shared common parts (hallways, stairs, landings) almost always need emergency lighting. The council’s HMO licence will normally specify it as a condition
• Purpose-built blocks of flats with shared corridors, lobbies, or stairs need emergency lighting in those common parts
• Converted houses to flats with shared escape routes — same as blocks of flats
• Commercial and mixed-use premises — covered by the FSO; outside CJA Electrical’s scope but useful to know
• Single-occupancy houses — generally don’t need emergency lighting. Smoke alarms are the relevant safety system

If you’re a landlord and not sure whether emergency lighting applies to your property, the council’s housing team or your fire risk assessor are the authoritative sources. If your fire risk assessment recommends emergency lighting, you need it.

Maintained vs non-maintained — what the difference means

Two basic types of emergency lighting fitting, and the choice depends on whether the location is normally lit:

Non-maintained fittings are off in normal use. They only switch on when the mains fails. Most common type — used in stairwells and corridors that are already lit by general lighting. The emergency fitting is a separate unit that only does work in an emergency.

Maintained fittings are on all the time, like normal lighting. They keep going on battery if the mains fails. Used where the area needs to be lit continuously (cinemas, pubs, sometimes communal areas with no external light source). Less common in residential common parts.

For most Kent HMO and block-of-flats common parts, the right answer is non-maintained fittings positioned at strategic points (stair heads, corridor junctions, exit doors, final-exit doors).

Duration — 1 hour or 3 hour?

BS 5266 specifies how long the emergency lighting must run on battery. Two common durations:

1-hour systems are the minimum acceptable rating where occupants can be expected to evacuate quickly and the building re-occupied only after full power and inspection.

3-hour systems are required for sleeping accommodation (HMOs, blocks of flats with residents), where evacuation may be slower, and for premises where the building may be re-occupied (pubs, cinemas, etc.) before full inspection.

For HMO and residential common-parts work, 3-hour duration is the spec. CJA Electrical fits 3-hour rated fittings as the default for residential premises.

Where fittings actually go

BS 5266 lays out specific locations that must be illuminated by emergency lighting:

• Each exit door intended to be used in an emergency
• Each set of stairs so each tread receives direct light
• Any other stairs that might be used as part of an escape
• Landings and corridors
• Changes of direction in corridors
• Junctions of corridors
• Outside each final exit and on external escape routes
• Near each fire alarm call point and each fire-fighting equipment (extinguishers, fire blankets)
• Lifts (if they form part of the escape strategy, which is rare in residential)
• Toilet accommodation larger than 8m² or without external windows
• Plant rooms and motor rooms

For a typical mid-size HMO, that translates to a small number of strategically placed bulkhead fittings — usually four to eight units cover a three-storey converted house. We assess on the site visit.

What a typical install looks like

For a residential HMO or converted house in Kent:

1. Site visit to walk the building, identify escape routes, and confirm where fittings need to go
2. Specification quoted — fitting count, fitting type (LED bulkhead, exit sign, twin-spot), routing for the live supply, test schedule
3. Installation — most jobs are a single day. Each fitting needs a permanent live from a regularly-used lighting or socket circuit (so battery charging is constant when the building is occupied)
4. Test on completion — each fitting tested for correct operation on battery only (mains-fail simulation). Duration test (3-hour) sometimes deferred to next maintenance visit
5. Certificate and logbook — BS 5266 certificate handed over plus a logbook for ongoing test records. The logbook stays at the property

LED fittings are now the default. They use a fraction of the power of older fluorescent emergency fittings, charge faster, last longer, and have lower failure rates. CJA Electrical fits LED throughout.

Testing schedule once installed

BS 5266 requires ongoing testing to confirm the system works. The duty owner of the building (usually the landlord or letting agent) is responsible. The schedule:

• Monthly function test — switch off the supply at the test key/switch on each fitting, confirm it illuminates on battery, restore supply. Logged in the logbook. The duty owner can do this themselves
• Annual full duration test — discharge each fitting for the full 3 hours, confirm it operates correctly throughout, restore supply, allow full recharge. Done by a competent person; logged in the logbook with a certificate
• Periodic remedial work — battery replacement (every 4-5 years typically), failed-fitting replacement, occasional fitting upgrades

We can do the annual testing on systems we’ve installed and on systems installed by others. Where we find a fitting at end-of-life or failing the test, we quote replacement separately.

Common findings on emergency lighting compliance audits

Buildings that haven’t had emergency lighting professionally maintained tend to have predictable problems:

• Failed batteries — often from years of being switched off via the lighting circuit during a renovation, then never charging again
• Fittings switched off via the test switch that haven’t been switched back on
• Missing fittings at locations BS 5266 requires — corridor junctions, final exits, near firefighting equipment
• No logbook, or a logbook that hasn’t been updated for years
• Wrong duration rating — 1-hour fittings in a 3-hour location
• Maintained fittings used as non-maintained (so they’re permanently bright when not needed) or vice versa

Most of these are straightforward to fix once identified, but they all show up on a fire risk assessment and the council will follow up.

Coverage across Kent

Emergency lighting installation and testing across Medway, Maidstone, Gravesham, Swale, and Canterbury — full list on the where we work section. Heaviest demand is from HMO landlords in the Medway towns, blocks of flats in Maidstone and the Medway waterfront, and converted-house HMOs in the older parts of Chatham, Gillingham, and Gravesend.