Beyond compliance – achieving greater safety with integrated fire and emergency lighting systems

Organisation profile

Advanced is a world leader in intelligent fire, evacuation and emergency lighting systems renowned for their performance, quality and ease of use. Our products are manufactured in the UK, rigorously tested and approved to relevant UK and international standards, and chosen to protect people and property in Ireland and across the world. We continually develop new technologies designed to create a safer future such as Go, our new-generation, single-loop fire panel suitable for smaller sites, all backed up by industry-leading technical support and UK-based customer service. We have a proven pedigree of providing fire protection and emergency lighting in Ireland and our products are installed in projects across the country from hospitals to leading retail stores. In 2022 we were named Fire Safety Manufacturer of the Year at the Fire & Security Matters Awards.

Training aim

To educate engineers in Ireland about emergency lighting legislation and what is required to be compliant.

Learning objectives

An understanding of what emergency lighting is, why it is needed, the legislation in Ireland and what is required to be legally compliant.
Guidance from the IS 3217 code of practice on where emergency lighting is needed and how bright it should be.
The benefits of an automatic testing system and how existing fire systems and emergency lighting systems can be integrated.
How Dynamic Safety Sign Systems can benefit occupants’ safety during an evacuation and lead them more quickly to safety.

Course outline

Fire and emergency lighting systems tend to be treated as separate entities with no communication between the two.

This presentation will explain the importance of emergency lighting and the benefits of automatic testing systems, as well as why integrating fire and emergency lighting systems offers greatly improved safety in the event of an emergency. It will provide a background on the relevant Irish legislation and what is required to be legally compliant, demonstrate where emergency lighting is required and the necessary levels of illumination, and also cover guidance on escape signage that meets IS 3217, the Code of Practice that gives detailed guidance on the emergency lighting of premises.

The presentation will show how automatic testing systems can help with compliance, and demonstrate that simplified maintenance can save time, as well as money, on testing and maintenance schedules. You will hear how integrating with the fire system lets you apply cause and effect to emergency lighting, and we’ll also introduce you to the many advantages of a new approach to emergency lighting - Dynamic Safety Sign Systems (DSSS) – which can be automatically triggered by almost any fire panel to provide clear, unambiguous escape route indication for much-improved evacuation safety. You will learn how occupants tend to react in an emergency and how a Dynamic Safety Sign System can be used to adapt to or overcome natural human behaviour; guiding people to their nearest escape route, and also actively routing them away from hazardous areas.

Trainer's profile

Matthew Jones is the Emergency Lighting Business Manager at Advanced, having worked in the Fire and Lighting industry for the past 6 years. He previously worked with Apollo Fire Detectors, and in more recent years at Advanced Electronics has headed up their Emergency Lighting unit. Matthew is a Council Member of ICEL (the Industry Committee for Emergency Lighting) and sits on various Working Groups such as the Fire Industry Association’s Emergency Lighting Working Group and the Lighting Industry Association’s Government Liaison Working Group. Matthew has a strong focus on educating people on what they’re responsible for, and also on how to achieve compliance.

Course duration

50 minutes

Assessment & certification

Those who attend this course will receive a certificate of attendance from Advanced proving that they have undertaken the CPD training.

Who should attend

Fire safety managers, fire risk assessors, health and safety managers, electrical engineers, fire engineers, facility managers, consultants, specifiers, and anyone else who needs a better understanding of emergency lighting requirements.