LED Staircase Lighting: Meeting The Regulations

The primary issue to take account of when lighting staircases is of course safety. The Health and Safety Executive has identified steps and stairs as a high risk area. They note that a slip or trip on stairs can cause serious injury. In fact, around 1,000 serious accidents occur on workplace stairs each year.

Installing and maintaining suitable lighting is one of the ways you can reduce the risk of stair-related accidents at work. Before we look at the role LED Staircase Lighting can play in this, we’ll briefly review the main regulations of relevance.

What Are The Safety Standards?

UK regulatory requirements for staircase lighting were published in 1997. The Health and Safety Executive’s Guide HSG38 ‘Lighting at Work’ specifies the minimum recommended illumination levels. This guide states that the average recommended illuminance for indoor staircases is 20 lux, with the minimum being 5 lux.

However, BS EN 12464-1:2011 ‘Lighting of Indoor Work Places’ recommends an average illuminance of 100 lux, taking the view that the task of walking up and down stairs safely requires this level of illuminance. It does however allow for an exception, where this level of illumination would cause problems to users on the grounds of distraction or visual adaption.

It should be noted that the top and bottom stairs are accepted as areas that require illumination at a higher level than the rest of the staircase. This is necessary to improve safety of staircase users.

Because people use staircases for very short periods of time, the issue of visual fatigue that crops up elsewhere in the workplace is of less relevance, or indeed none at all. However, in some situations, as well as addressing safety you may wish to use LED Lighting to create an aesthetically pleasing environment on a staircase, hallway or landing.

Types Of LED Staircase Lighting

There are several different types of LED product that can be selected to provide appropriate levels of light for a staircase. These include suspended lights, strip lights and recessed lights, for example installed every few feet into the walls of a stairway. Also available are strip lights for installation on each riser of the staircase, and bulbs that can be fitted onto rail posts to emphasise the shape of a handrail.

LED Lighting systems for staircases will of course be controlled at least in part by switches. Motion sensors can also be installed to reduce energy costs. However, LED Lighting is in any case much more energy efficient than traditional fluorescent and incandescent lighting.

Helping You Comply With Regulations

Here at Lighting Electricians Ltd, we can advise on the retrofit of LED Lighting into your staircase areas. Our service covers the design, supply and installation of all the lighting components necessary to ensure lighting on your staircases is to the correct standard for employee and visitor safety.

Click here to request a free LED Lighting audit, or click here to see the benefits of LED Lighting