Emergency Lighting in Anesthetizing Locations

Does my organization need emergency lighting in anesthetizing locations? If so, where is this discussed?

The Joint Commission requires emergency lighting throughout a health care facility to preserve the safety of patients and staff when regular power is interrupted. Emergency lighting consists of battery-powered emergency lights and lights powered by an emergency generator; however, organizations do not necessarily need both types of lights in a particular location.

For anesthetizing locations, emergency lighting recommendations differ based on whether the location is existing construction (plans approved before March 16, 2003) or new construction (plans approved on or after March 16, 2003). This has caused some confusion as to whether battery-powered emergency lighting and emergency generator–powered lighting are both necessary in anesthetizing locations. The Healthcare Interpretation Task Force (HITF) of the NFPA discussed this particular topic in November 2004 and created a recommendation that battery-powered emergency lighting is required in new anesthetizing locations in addition to generator-powered emergency lighting. This is not required retroactively by NFPA 99-1999 in existing anesthetizing locations, so existing facilities can have either battery-powered lighting or generator-powered lighting. Existing facilities that currently have both may reassign the battery-powered lighting from emergency lighting to task lighting and manage these lights per the organization’s maintenance strategies. Emergency battery-powered lights in new anesthetizing locations are required to comply with Standard EC.02.05.07, Elements of Performance (EPs) 1 and 2.

While the HITF information is not an official interpretation, both NFPA 99-1999 3-3.2.1.2 and Joint  Commission Standard LS.02.01.20, EP 32, support the intent of the recommendation. Organizations may choose to follow it to ensure the safety of patients during a loss of power.


From February 2012 EC News