One of the key updates in BS 5266-1:2025 is changes in emergency lighting categories. The 2016 version recognised 3 types of emergency lighting:

 • Emergency escape lighting
•  Emergency safety lighting
•  Standby lighting

The 2025 edition still recognises three purposes of emergency lighting, but the term emergency safety lighting is replaced by “emergency local area lighting”.
• Emergency escape lighting: unchanged in purpose — lighting to enable safe evacuation.
• Emergency local area lighting: replaces emergency safety lighting and is formally defined in the standard for situations where occupants may remain temporarily in place during a supply failure.
• Standby lighting: remains as in the 2016 version — lighting intended to permit continued activity when normal lighting fails Emergency local area lighting.

Emergency escape lighting - Illumination for safe exit of the building

While the purpose of emergency escape lighting hasn’t changed in the 2025 edition and remains the safe guidance of occupants to safety, there are changes in where and how much light is required, and how it integrates with other lighting types.  These have been clarified in alignment with updated European performance standards.

In the event of failure of the supply to the normal lighting, emergency escape lighting should be available to assist occupants to evacuate a building safely by:
 - Locating and identifying exit signs
 - Using the escape routes
 - Conducting safety measures prior to evacuation

Minimum required illuminance levels changed.

2016 Edition

• Emergency escape lighting minimum 1 lx was applied along the centre line of escape routes.

2025 Edition

• The minimum horizontal illuminance of 1 lx now applies to the entire floor area of the escape route (not just the centre line), except for a small permitted border based on route width.
  → This change improves uniformity of light across the route and reduces dark areas that might be unsafe during evacuation.

 More Lighting in Transitional and Open Spaces. 

2016 Edition

Rooms with the floor area larger than 60 m2 should be provided with horizontal illuminance of not less than 0.5 lux at the floor levels of the area.

2025 Edition

Emergency escape lighting now explicitly recognises that:

• • Smaller open areas identified by risk assessment may still require the same minimum 0.5 lx.

  • If escape routes pass through open areas that are not clearly defined, then the entire open area is treated as an escape route, requiring 1 lx across it.

  • If there are defined escape path lines through an open area, then the 1 lx minimum applies along that route.

Places of Ultimate Safety. 

The 2025 edition defines where emergency escape lighting must be provided.

• Place of ultimate safety is now introduced (Clause 5.2.8.1(g)) referring to the final safe location outside a building). This expands the scope of escape lighting, ensuring end-to-end route illumination from inside to safe refuge outside the building.

While the main purpose of emergency escape lighting is unchanged (to help occupants leave safely), BS 5266-1:2025 now integrates escape lighting more explicitly with:

• Emergency local area lighting (covering situations where occupants stay on site) and

• Standby lighting (for continued operation)

This means in design and documentation you must now consider how the escape component fits with other lighting categories — rather than designing it in isolation as before.

Emergency local area lighting- Illumination for safety in the building

If a building is not evacuated immediately, additional measures might need to be included in risk assessment. 

Terminology Change and Clarified Scope.

2016 Edition

The concept of lighting for occupants who remain in a building during a supply failure was generally discussed under Emergency Safety Lighting.

2025 Edition

The standard formally replaces the term Emergency Safety Lighting with the term Emergency Local Area Lighting. This change isn’t just cosmetic — the 2025 edition clarifies when and where this type of lighting must be considered as part of compliance, rather than leaving it informal or entirely risk-assessment driven as before.  This change elevates local area lighting to the same formal status as escape and standby lighting, ensuring it’s considered early in design rather than treated as an optional add-on.

Integration with Design Guidance.

2016 Edition
Guidance on emergency safety lighting was largely based on risk assessment outcomes without specific prescriptive design criteria.

2025 Edition
Local area lighting  is embedded within the illumination and design clauses of the standard so that it must now be considered when specifying where emergency lighting is required. For example, the standard now states that local area lighting should be provided where occupants are allowed to remain during periods without normal lighting, linking it formally to site strategy and occupant use.

This change means local area lighting is no longer just a conceptual design consideration — it’s explicitly part of the emergency lighting design and compliance process.

Standby lighting- Illumination for continued activity

Standby lighting should permit the occupants to operate the premises during the power failure. This needs to provide the same lighting as the lighting provided by the normal lighting system.

The key update in the 2025 edition is that it is now a formal and defined part of the emergency lighting framework. In the 2016 edition, it was not separately defined or included in the scope —  meaning designers needed to treat it indirectly. The 2025 edition brings Standby lighting clearly into the standard’s structure alongside escape and local area lighting.

Explicitly included in Scope.

2016 Edition
The primary focus was on emergency escape lighting, leaving the standby lighting to be interpreted from risk assesemment.

2025 Edition

Standby lighting is now a recognised purpose of emergency lighting systems within the standard — it isn’t treated as an afterthought or only via risk assessment; it’s part of the formal structure and guidance. Designers and responsible persons must now consider standby lighting requirements within the standard’s framework, not just emergency escape and local area lighting.

Design and Compliance. 

Standby lighting must be considered during design and risk assessment processes where essential activities must continue during a mains failure. Documentation now encompass standby lighting as part of the overall emergency lighting strategy.