When the lights go out during a fire, a familiar hallway becomes disorienting fast, and tenants who barely know the building have to find their way out in the dark. That is the problem HMO emergency lighting solves. Whether your HMO actually needs it fitted depends on the property. If you let a shared house in Worthing or across West Sussex, here is how to tell.
What emergency lighting is
Emergency lighting comes on automatically when the normal power fails, illuminating the escape route long enough for people to get out. It is different from the plug-in torches sometimes used in very small premises, because it is fitted, automatic and maintained, not dependent on someone grabbing a torch.
When it is needed
The LACORS guidance takes a risk-based view. In a small, low-rise HMO with good borrowed light from street lamps through windows, conventional lighting may be enough. As HMOs get taller and the escape route gets longer or more complex, fitted emergency lighting becomes the expectation. Three-storey and larger HMOs, and any route with no natural light, are the typical cases.
Why borrowed light is not always enough
Landlords sometimes assume a streetlight outside will do. The catch is that a power cut affecting the building may affect the whole street, and a fire can fill a route with smoke that blocks any outside light anyway. Relying on borrowed light is a judgement your fire risk assessment has to make honestly, not an assumption to fall back on.
Where the lights go
Emergency lighting is positioned to cover the escape route: stairs, changes of level, corridors, and the final exit, plus any point where the route changes direction. The aim is a continuously lit path from any room to the outside. On complex layouts this needs designing rather than guessing.
Testing and maintenance
Like all fire safety equipment in an HMO, emergency lighting has to be kept in good working order under the management regulations. That means regular testing, usually a short monthly function test and a longer annual test, with records kept. A light that does not come on when needed is worse than useless because it gives false reassurance.
Getting it right
Deciding between borrowed light and a fitted system, and designing the layout, is exactly the kind of call where the guidance leaves room for judgement. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service can advise, and an assessor will tell you whether your particular route needs fitted lighting or whether the existing arrangement is defensible.
Designing the layout
Where fitted emergency lighting is needed, the positions are not guesswork. Lights go at the points that matter: stair flights, changes of level and direction, the final exit, and anywhere the escape route would otherwise be dark. The goal is a continuously lit path from any room to the outside, which on a complex layout needs designing rather than fitting a unit here and there.
As with detection, installation should be by a competent person and properly certificated, with the test records kept. West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service can advise on whether your particular property needs a fitted system, and an assessor will judge honestly whether borrowed light is genuinely sufficient or whether you are relying on an assumption that would fail in a real power cut.
Fitted systems are also designed to stay lit long enough to get everyone out, commonly to the three-hour duration set out in the British Standard for emergency lighting. That is why a quick plug-in light is not a substitute: it is the sustained, automatic illumination that makes the difference during a real evacuation.
Light your escape route properly
Unsure whether your HMO needs fitted emergency lighting? For advice tailored to your property from a competent professional, speak to Jamie at ESI: Fire Safety on 01276 300 351.
