Emergency Lighting in Hospitals

[egurdian3]

Guys,
Do you know of specific Emergency Lighting requirements for Hospital rooms, e.g.: patient rooms, examination rooms, bathrooms, etc. per NEC or do you know of any reference material that I can consult?

 

[charlie b]

There really is no such thing as "emergency lights." It is more accurate to call them "egress lights that are powered from the emergency source." It is not a matter of what room you are in, but rather a matter of getting you from that room to the outside world, in the event of a loss of the normal utility power source. Egress lights are most often seen in corridors and stairways, but some large rooms also need them. I do not know the source of the requirements, but I would look first in the building codes.

All that said, almost all the loads in an operating room will be powered from the emergency system, and specifically the critical branch. But I still would not call the light fixtures in that room "emergency lighting."

 

[steve66]

In a hospital, you normally have at least 3 types of lights:

1. Normal lights - no generator power.
2. Emergency Egress lights that Charlie mentioned. Except these would be connected to the Life Safety branch of the emergency system. This would include enough lights to provide 1 FC of illumination in the egress paths. So you would have these lights mixed in with other lights in corridors, public waiting areas, cafeterias, and anywhere the building codes says you need emergency egress lights. (These aren't usually much different than egress lights you would find in any other commercial building).
3. Critical branch lights (a better name escapes me right now. Some might call these emergency lights). These would be connected to the critical branch of the emergency system. They would be placed in operating rooms, critical procedure rooms, and anywhere the hospital thinks they need them.

There might also be a 4th type that I would call "Optional". These would be on a separate transfer switch that isn't part of the critical system. It could include any lights.