Welcome To Captain Cook Electrical – Your Emergency Lighting Testing Electricians Across the North Shore, Northern Beaches & Hills District

There are a number of workplace safety requirements that commercial properties of all shapes and sizes need to ensure the ongoing safety of the people using them. A big aspect of safety and protection is emergency lighting, including illuminated exits. 

When power failures occur building interiors, corridors, car parks and stairwells can become very dark and unsafe. This can cause hazards across a number of different scenarios such as injury from trips and falls, panic and distress from being disorientated or people becoming trapped in a building during an emergency evacuation.

Because of these risks, emergency lighting is a mandatory requirement for all occupied commercial and government buildings in Australia, including businesses, shops and schools.

If you don’t currently have adequate emergency lighting at your North Shore, Northern Beaches or Hills District business, Captain Cook Electrical has skilled and qualified technicians who can assess where emergency lighting is required, and recommend upgrades to your current system to give you better performance and lower running costs and keep your lighting maintained to Australian codes.

As part of the code (AS2293.2.) you’ll also need to have your lighting tested twice a year in addition to having an adequate emergency solution installed.

We can provide professional advice on what lighting methods you can install and how different systems are triggered in emergency situations so you can make an informed choice for your organisation’s emergency response and procedures. Our electricians are best placed to get the right systems in place to assist your team, customers and guests to move through your building and exit safely and calmly.

What is Emergency Lighting?

Emergency lighting is specifically designed to come on during blackouts and power outages to allow people to safely move through darkened areas as well as clearly see where the closet exits are in the event of an emergency evacuation.

As well as emergency lighting you also need to have clearly illuminated exit lights directly above exit doors as well as strategically placed any time direction changes on an evacuation route. Because emergency lights may be unused for long stretches it is possible that there are burnout bulbs or low batteries that need replacing. These faults will go unnoticed and untreated unless regular testing is scheduled. 

There are a wide range of exit signs and emergency lights to choose from, each type is targeted to a specific application within a building environment and has slightly different triggers and operation methods. For example, weatherproof and vandal-resistant signs are available for exterior locations and low-temperature bulbs can match frigid environments, like freezers.

Some lighting options, like egress lighting that light the pathway to an exit, will only come on during a power outage, others, such as exit lighting will remain illuminated at all times with dedicated bulbs for grid energy as well as backup battery energy bulbs.

How Does Emergency Lighting Work?

There are three main setups that determine how emergency lights can work. You can choose to mix and match light types to cover different areas of your North Shore commercial building and provide adequate emergency lighting options for all your occupied work spaces.

Maintained emergency lighting is illuminated all the time with low-energy bulbs. They contain one lamp which runs on grid energy most of the time while also charging its own battery internally. If the power goes out in the building, the lamp draws on the battery power to maintain illumination until power is restored.

Sustained emergency lights are constantly illuminated using two lamps, one that runs solely on grid energy and another which runs off a grid-charged battery. Only one lamp is used at any given time, depending on the power provided to the building. 

If you have sustained lighting it’s even more essential that you conduct regular tests. While it might appear that an exit light is working with no problems, it could actually be that the second lamp- the one for battery power, has a blown bulb or the battery needs replacing.

Non-maintained emergency lights stay off unless needed. They are connected to the main supply grid where they are constantly drawing power to charge their internal battery. If building power is cut the lamp is triggered to illuminate using battery power. The only way to know if they are working is to conduct a test where a power outage is simulated and monitor to make sure the lights stay on for at least 90-minutes without power.

To do this test our electricians at Captain Cook won’t need to turn off your power, we can trick the system to think power is out so that your workday and equipment are not affected. As part of your testing, you’ll receive detailed information in a log book on every point tested as well as any defects or code breaches. Your log can be digital or paper – depending on your preferred system.

The Benefits of Emergency Lighting

The type of emergency lighting you require will depend on the area to be lit, the shape of your building and how close rooms are to the final evacuation point. Making sure your commercial building has the right match is important for compliance and your convenience too. A licensed electrician with an understanding of the AS2293.1 standard can provide the guidance you need for installation requirements and testing methods. 

To make emergency lighting tests easier at your Northern Beaches property ask us how you can combine your exit light testing with smoke alarm tests, safety switch tests, testing and tagging and circuit breaker tests. As well as being fully prepared in the event of an emergency, fulfilling these requirements is a legal part of your responsibility as a business owner.

Captain Cook Emergency Lighting Solutions

Captain Cook electricians are qualified to carry out testing to match the setup your business has installed. If your system is struggling to perform we can offer solutions for faster and cheaper testing that is more accurate for fault finding and reports. 

We can replace existing exit halogen bulbs and emergency lighting with long-lasting, cost-effective LEDs to give you added peace of mind that you have an emergency system that will last for decades. 

Our team at Captain Cook understand that maintaining your emergency lighting is the cheapest, easiest and most reliable way to remain compliant and ensure the safety of your workplace. We take the mandatory six-month emergency light testing seriously as it’s the key to ensuring your emergency lighting works efficiently and is compliant with AS/NZS 2293 regulations. 

Ask our team at Captain Cook Electrical North Shore, Northern Beaches and Hills District about testing options and upgrades.

Why Choose Captain Cook Electrical

When you call on Captain Cook Electrical for your emergency lighting solutions and ongoing maintenance you can be sure we’ll provide same-day service that is a pleasure to deal with, backed by our 100% satisfaction guarantee. As a locally owned and operated business we take pride in our work and customer service.

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