Udec Corporation

When it comes to seeing the light, emergency lighting may be known by any number of names. On the other hand, errors in terminology also occur. One of the most common misuses of terms involved ‘egress’ lighting.

Many otherwise savvy installers treat egress as equivalent to ‘emergency’ lighting. In many other ways, the terminology of emergency lighting is not always accurate. The truth is that any lighting that is unreliable or undependable may create a hazard. Egress lights are used to provide safer exiting under any circumstances…whether an emergency has occurred or not. To this end, you might consider the example of decorative lighting to also aid in aesthetics.

Highlighting shrubs, for example, may also make unsafe shadows disappear. But the difference is more than semantic. Egress lighting should never be turned off by unapproved individuals. Egress lighting should be on whenever an affected area is occupied. Emergency lighting, however, is used in specified instances of (naturally enough) failures…classically, egress lighting is always on, and emergency lighting typically comes on when the egress lighting fails.

The apt use of the term egress properly addresses the range of lighting needed to make exits safer. More generally, knowing the relative roles of egress and emergency lighting also makes one fact crystal clear. The two lighting systems work together to cerate an emergency lighting system.