Corridors form the backbone of a secure health facility, linking residential and treatment spaces for both people and services. These circulation spaces ensure effective movement from one location to another and act as a means of orientation. The lighting must factor in the requirements of everyone using these functional, yet crucial, spaces.
Light offers a sense of safety and security by optimising our spatial awareness. Corridors can be a confined space, requiring lighting that does not produce glare or shine into adjacent rooms. At night time, or during periods of rest, non-clinical areas leading off a corridor benefit when light levels are set to provide low ambient illumination.
Energy efficient LED lighting can incorporate a variety of dimming and occupancy sensor options to ensure that luminaires are only at full output when actually required. To maintain a bright hygienic environment, luminaires require high ingress protection measures to ensure easy cleaning. Lighting should also be robustly constructed and require little in the way of maintenance.
In an emergency situation, corridors can often double as the exit route to a place of safety. Function and duration tests of emergency luminaires have to be conducted regularly and the results recorded. Automated test systems can help you meet your legal obligations see the technical support section for more information.
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Levels of illumination in a corridor can vary depending on the time of day. BS EN12464-1 recommends 200 lux for multi-purpose corridors during the day and CIBSE LG2 suggests 5 lux on the floor at night for corridors leading on to bedrooms.
There are many guides, directives and standards relating to emergency lighting including BS EN60598-2-22 for emergency luminaires, The Health and Safety (Safety Signs and Signals) Regulations, and BS5266 Part 1:2016, Code of Practice for the Emergency Lighting of Premises.
BS EN 62034 and BS EN 50172 relate directly to your legal requirement to ensure your emergency lighting systems are routinely inspected, tested and the test results recorded. We can provide professional guidance on how you can meet your emergency lighting obligations. For example, we offer a DALI emergency lighting test system called DesignPath that automatically carries out routine testing, records results and reports faults.
For further lighting advice speak to our technical sales team on 020 8254 2022 or e-mail technicalsales@designplan.co.uk
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