When you are responsible for the safety of a commercial establishment and everyone that works inside it, you have a lot to remember. There are tests that need to be performed to make sure your emergency equipment works properly. There are standards your business has to comply with. Fortunately, you don't have to face these tasks alone, and it is better to rely on lighting professionals to ensure that your place is safe. They have three advantages.
The Occupational Safety And Hazard Administration has a set of detailed rules for emergency exits and their lights. There are also standards that the National Fire Protection Association has that local jurisdictions apply. Some of these rules and standards may be common sense, but others may come as a bit of a surprise. For instance, OSHA has a prescribed height and width for the letters on an emergency exit light. It is best to hire a company that hires Certified Lighting Technicians and Licensed Electricians directly, as they will have a vested interest in reading up on all the rules that apply to your emergency program and know what the most common violations are. This way, they can help you get the most out of your emergency exits and you can be sure that experts will be the ones that come back to fix anything that goes wrong.
Fire extinguishers should be regularly checked just like exit lights and other emergency equipment. They need to be full and properly functioning at all times so that anyone can put out any small fire instead of risking it growing. These regular maintenance checks of course take time and need to be done thoroughly, and you don't want to task a staff member with the extra job when that person might not even know what they are looking for in a good fire extinguisher. They need to know how to recognize when a pin and tamper seal are intact, what the recommended pressure is, and how to wipe off any oil or corrosive material that might damage the equipment. Fire extinguishers also need pressure testing on a regular basis, which you really need an expert to do. An expert will also be able to swap out a functioning fire extinguisher for an old one immediately if they find something wrong. This will ensure that you are always ready for a fire, and never waiting for someone to remember to buy a new extinguisher.
Few things affect the safety of your employees more than lighting. Good lighting is crucial to being able to see the exits and avoid hazards. This is why you want dedicated experts to do a thorough job of maintaining your lights. They can tighten fixtures, routinely replace the bulbs before any go out and leave dark spots, make routine inspections to catch problems before they cause hazards, and ensure that your emergency exit lights are up to code. Maintaining lights should include being available all day, every day in case of emergencies, and it should include necessary upgrades when they make sense for your company. Your janitor or a fly-by-night journeyman just can't keep up that level of commitment to something as important as your lighting.
Lighting Services, Inc. believes in protecting businesses from fires, and we have 85 years of experience in doing so. We even extend our lighting services to testing fire extinguishers and offer a 10% discount to anyone who combines it with one of our other services. If you have any questions about protecting your commercial building, please feel free to contact us.