Irish Standard
I.S. 3217:2023

Version 4.00

About standard

Emergency Lighting

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NSAI in exercise of the power conferred by section 16 of the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act, 1996 (No. 28 of 1996) and with the consent of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, hereby declares as follows:

1. This instrument may be cited as the Standard Specification (Emergency Lighting) Declaration 2023.

2.
(1) The Specification set forth in the Schedule to this declaration is hereby declared, pursuant to section 16(3) of the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act, 1996 (No. 28 of 1996), to be the standard specification Emergency Lighting.

(2) The said standard specification may be cited as Irish Standard 3217:2023 or as I.S. 3217:2023.

3.
(1) The Standard Specification (Emergency Lighting and Amendment 1:2017) Declaration 2023, is hereby revoked, pursuant to section 16(5) of the National Standards Authority of Ireland Act, 1996 (No. 28 of 1996).

(2) Reference in any other standard specification to the instrument revoked, or to I.S. 3217:2013+A1:2017 therein prescribed, shall be construed, respectively, as references to this instrument and to Irish Standard 3217:2023

Published: I.S. 3217:2023 V4.00 was published under the authority of the NSAI and came into effect on: 2023-09-19.

The National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI) produces the following categories of formal documents:

I.S. xxx: Irish Standard — national specification based on the consensus of an expert panel and subject to public consultation.

S.R. xxx: Standard Recommendation — recommendation based on the consensus of an expert panel and subject to public consultation.

SWiFT xxx: A rapidly developed recommendatory document based on the consensus of the participants of an NSAI workshop.

NSAI/… xxx: A National adoption of a Technical Regulation (TR), Technical Specification (TS), CEN and/or CENELEC Workshop Agreement (CWA).

COPYRIGHT :

© NSAI 2024

No copying without NSAI permission except as permitted by copyright law.

Foreword

This document has been prepared by the National Standards Authority of Ireland Technical Committee 16 - Fire Safety Standards Committee Working Group 5, Emergency Lighting.

This edition if I.S. 3217 has been drafted in line with the CEN CENELEC Internal Regulations Part 3. The sequence of clauses has been changed to provide a logical structure – for example the various elements of design have been consolidated. The document has been streamlined with the elimination of unnecessary text and duplication.

In preparing this document the assumption has been made that the reader has suitable knowledge and understanding of the subject. When it has been determined that an emergency lighting system is required, then this document is applicable.

This document does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract and the user is responsible for its correct application.

Conformance with an Irish Standard does not of itself confer immunity from legal obligations

This document has been drafted in line with international standards practice. The following representation of numbers and numerical values apply:

— The decimal point is shown as a comma ( , ) throughout this document.
— Each group of three digits reading to the left or to the right of a decimal sign are separated by a space from the preceding digits or following digits respectively.
The following verbal forms of expression are used:
‘’shall’ indicates a requirement;
’should’ indicates a recommendation;
’may’ indicates a permission;
’can’ indicates a possibility or a capability.
Information marked as ’NOTE’ is for guidance in understanding or clarifying the associated text

Introduction

The aim of this document is to promote a wider understanding of the different types of emergency lighting systems and modes of operation and to give guidance on their correct application.

In this document, emergency lighting is regarded as a generic term of which there are a number of specific forms

The objective of emergency escape lighting is to enable safe exit from a location in the event of failure of the normal supply.

The objective of escape route lighting is to provide adequate visual conditions and directions for safe passage on escape routes and allow occupants to reach escape routes from open areas.

The objective of emergency exit signs is to provide appropriate visual conditions and direction finding to allow escape routes to be readily located and used.

The objective of open area (anti-panic) lighting is to reduce the likelihood of panic and to enable safe movement of occupants towards escape routes by providing appropriate visual conditions and direction finding.

The objective of high risk task area lighting is to contribute to the safety of people involved in a potentially dangerous process or situation and to enable proper shut down procedures to be carried out for the safety of other occupants at the location.

The objective of standby lighting is to enable normal activities to continue substantially unchanged in the event the supply to the normal lighting fails.

Much anxiety and confusion can be alleviated by strategically placed signs indicating the way out of a location. It is very important that emergency exits are clearly indicated and visible at all times.

Vision varies from person to person, both by the amount of light required to perceive an object clearly and in the time taken to adapt to changes in the illuminance. In general, older people need more light and take a longer time to adapt to low illuminance on a hazard or escape route.

Schedule

1 Scope

This document gives guidelines for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of emergency lighting systems.

This document gives requirements for the clear indication of escape routes, the minimum level of illumination and the minimum duration of operation for emergency escape lighting in the event of failure of supply to the normal lighting. It covers both temporary and permanently installed electrically powered emergency lighting systems of the following system types:

a) self-contained,
b) central supply.

There are techniques, including safety way guidance systems, which can be applied to escape routes to enhance the effectiveness of a conventional emergency lighting system. These techniques are not included in this document.

2 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

I.S. 10101, National Rules for Electrical Installations

I.S. EN 81-20, Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts - Lifts for the transport of persons and goods - Part 20: Passenger and goods passenger lifts

I.S. EN 1838, Lighting applications - Emergency lighting

I.S. EN 13032-3, Measurement and presentation of photometric data of lamps and luminaires - Part 3: Presentation of data for emergency lighting of work places

I.S. EN 50171, Central safety power supply systems

I.S. EN 50172, Emergency escape lighting systems

I.S. EN 50200:2015, Method of test for resistance to fire of unprotected small cables for use in emergency circuits

I.S. EN 60529, Degrees of protection provided by enclosures (IP code)

I.S. EN IEC 60598-2-22, Luminaires - Part 2-22: Particular requirements - Luminaires for emergency lighting

I.S. EN 62034, Automatic test systems for battery powered emergency escape lighting

I.S. EN IEC 60695-2-11, Fire hazard testing - Part 2-11: Glowing/hot-wire based test methods - Glow-wire flammability test method for end products (GWEPT)