New York City Emergency Lights

Unlike most other cities, which rely on the Universal Building Code (UBC) and other federal regulations, New York City has created its own requirements for Emergency Lights. These don’t negate the federal regulations, because local laws can’t supersede federal one. However, they add tighter restrictions than the federal ones contain. Install New York City emergency lights to insure occupant safety and maintain NYC building code compliance.

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  New York City Steel Emergency Light 6v 18w
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  Compact New York City Emergency Light 6v 18w
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View Our New York City Emergency Lights

The major difference between New York City Emergency Light requirements and those that are spelled out by other regulating agencies is that New York City requires a higher illumination level from emergency lights than other regulations do:

• OSHA regulations require that all egress routes be illuminated to an average of 1 foot-candle of illumination, measured at a height of 1 foot off the floor.
• New York City regulations require that all egress routes be illuminated in their entirety to a minimum of 2 foot-candles of illumination, measured at the floor level. 

New York City emergency lights can be used throughout the five boroughs.

Additional New York City Emergency Light Requirements

In addition to this higher illumination level, New York City adds that the illumination of egress routes be planned and installed in such a manner to insure that if one bulb burns out, no part of the egress route will be in darkness. While they don’t spell out that the illumination level in such cases must meet the two foot-candles requirement, they do require that there be some illumination. 

The easiest way to insure that these requirements are met is to use approved New York City Emergency Lights. Theses lights are different than other emergency lights in that they provide a higher level of illumination, so that they can meet the higher illumination requirements. All emergency lights which are labeled “New York City Emergency Lights” have been presented to the New York City Building Authority for inspection and approval.

New York City Emergency Light Voltages

Wet Location New York City Emergency Lights are waterproof and rated for outdoor use.

Because of this higher illumination requirement, you are better off buying higher voltage emergency lights. While most emergency lights as 6 VDC, there are also 12 & 24 VDC units available. Just as a flashlight with more batteries produces a brighter light, so do emergency lights with higher voltages produce brighter light. This makes it easier to meet New York City’s requirements.

Higher voltage emergency lights also provide the advantage of being more easily adapted for remote lamp heads. Remote lamp heads allow the same emergency light unit to power an additional lamp head, which is located as much as a couple hundred feet away from the emergency lighting unit. This can accrue to an equipment purchase savings for your company, by not having to buy as many emergency lighting units. Higher voltage means less line voltage loss through your wiring.

New York City Emergency Light Placement

Placement of these lights is also important. In most applications, architects design the electrical plan for the building to overlap the light cone of the exit lights, insuring that the loss of one bulb will not cause that part of the egress route to fall into darkness.

Because New Your City Emergency Lights are special lights, they are normally steel cased emergency lights and not thermoplastic. While this eliminates many attractive designs, it does give you the advantage of being able to customize your emergency lights, such as with remote lamp heads. There are a number of other options that are available for steel cased emergency lights, which cannot be installed in thermoplastic ones.