Emergency Lighting Repairs - Repair Options & Client Responsibilities

Hi everyone!

I'm looking for some advice if possible:

I've been employed by the business manager of a school to provide a solution for their failing emergency lighting installation.


The business manager is relatively new to the role and has highlighted that under previous management, the school have failed to undertake emergency lighting repairs over the past few years.

A review the test documentation from the past four years indicates that the emergency lighting installation has been systematically failing, but quotations to undertake repairs were rejected by the previous management team.

As a result, the school now has an approximate 10% pass rate of the emergency lighting installation and costs exceeding £10,000 to bring the school back into compliance.


Following discussions with the staff at the school, the new management team are aware that the RRFO places the responsibility on them to ensure that any facilities and equipment relating to fire safety are subject to a suitable system of maintenance and that they are also kept in efficient working order and in good repair. This has been accepted and the management team do want to bring the school back up to a suitable standard.


The issue now lies with the costs associated with repairing the system and where I would like your thoughts.

The quotes for remedial repairs involve converting the existing (what I would call combined) fittings to general light fittings by removing the emergency light elements (batteries etc...) and installing new stand alone non-maintained fittings adjacent to the original fitting. The benefit being that the new emergency fittings have a good warranty period and are then only in operation in a power failure, rather than being energised for long periods of time, thus extending the life of the fitting.

The school are happy with the proposed repairs but can not afford to have them carried out during one financial period.


A quick review of BS 5266-1 section 12 offers this advice:

In the event of failure of any parts of the system, a competent person should be used to repair the fault. Alternative safety procedures should be introduced until the repair is complete and the system has been retested satisfactorily. The responsible person for the building should decide on the appropriate action to be taken for their premises to maintain occupants’ safety during this time.

NOTE 5 Examples of possible actions include: • warning occupants to be extra vigilant until the system is rectified; • initiating extra safety patrols; • issuing torches as a temporary measure; • in a high risk situation, limiting use of all or part of the building.


Would it be reasonable for the school to implement some of these measures, taking the responsibility to provide torches and extra patrols for example, and subsequently break down repairs over a period of a number of years to entirely renew the emergency lighting installation. Another alternative I've been advised to propose, is recommend alternative cheaper repairs such as simply replacing the batteries in fittings that have failed the 3hr duration and re-test the system to just get a "pass" certificate for this year to provide that level of cover for the school management team as the "responsible person". The school can then try to budget for an entire replacement scheme a few years down the line?


From personal experience, replacing the components in a fitting (particularly if it's just the batteries) isn't much cheaper and only extends the life of the fitting for another year or two, postponing the inevitable failure, which is why I'm hesitant.


I'd appreciate everyone's thoughts and recommendations.

Thanks.

Dan.