As with most safety equipment, you don’t fully appreciate emergency lighting and exit signs until you need them. They are intended to illuminate the path in a building that leads to the exit, ensuring people can tell what doors to use to evacuate safely from individual rooms and ultimately the entire building.

It’s easy to grasp the importance of emergency lights and exit signs, but do you know where to install them in your building? If you’re in the midst of a new construction project or you’re making extensive changes to your commercial building’s interior, make sure you follow the applicable rules and regulations regarding emergency lighting installation.

Emergency Lighting & Exit Sign Requirements

As you choose different emergency lights and exit signs and determine their proper installation locations, keep the requirements from OSHA 1910.37(b) and NFPA 101 Life Safety Code in mind.

Where Should You Install Emergency Lighting?

When planning your emergency lighting installation, you’ll want to be aware that:

• • Commercial, industrial, institutional, educational, religious, medical, and many other building types generally require emergency lighting.
• • All exit routes in a building—including hallways, stairwells, and corridors—must be illuminated with emergency backup lights so anyone with normal vision can see the path to the exit.
• • Internal rooms, bathrooms, and storage areas larger than a broom closet have no windows and therefore require emergency lighting.
• • Emergency light fixtures must be spaced correctly to prevent excessively bright and dark spots.
• • Sometimes, allowances can be made for areas with large windows that supply a high level of natural light.

Remember, lights must be aimed appropriately to illuminate the walkway. Bulbs that point toward the ceiling or wall don’t meet code requirements, even if they’re installed in the proper locations.

Where Should You Install Exit Signs?

When installing exit signs in your building, you’ll want to keep the following in mind:

• • Each door exiting into a hallway that leads to the primary building exit must be clearly noticeable and marked with a sign that reads “Exit.”
• • Exit signs must be illuminated at all times and include a backup battery for continued illumination in case of a power outage. The sign must consist of plain, legible letters and be a distinctive color that stands out from the background.
• • All exit route doors must lack furnishings, decorations, or equipment that obscure the exit or the exit sign.
• • The line of sight to an exit sign must be unobstructed at all times. If a hallway turns, additional exit signs with directional indicators must be installed to show the way to the nearest exit.
• • If the direction of travel is not obvious, signs must be installed along the exit path showing the direction of the nearest exit.
• • Doors that could easily be mistaken for an exit along the exit route must be marked “Not an Exit,” “No Exit,” or have a sign indicating the room’s use (closet, storage, etc.).

It’s also important to know that you’ll want to schedule annual emergency lighting inspections to ensure your lights remain up to code and are repaired or replaced as necessary.

• (This "Fire Safety Blogs" Published in December 2023  Edition)