The purpose of emergency lighting is to ensure that the main fire exit routes from a building or open and high risk areas are sufficiently lit in the case of a mains failure, in order to allow persons to safely evacuate the areas or premises.

It is also important to light up certain fire alarm equipment such as call points and fire extinguishers.

There are two types of emergency lights available Maintained and Non-Maintained. The differences are highlighted below:
Maintained - Can be set to stay on constantly, this is ideal for escapes routes which generally are not lit or have very poor lighting.
Non-Maintained - Only turns on in the event of a power failure.

Emergency lighting provides a building with a light in the event of a power failure. The purpose of the emergency lights are:
To indicate clearly and unambiguously the escape routes.
To provide illumination along such routes to allow safe movement towards and through the exits provided.
To ensure that fire alarm call points and fire fighting equipment provided along escape routes can be readily located.
To permit operations concerned with safety measures.

Recommended Placements of Emergency Lights:

At each exit door	All safety exit signs	Outside and near each final exit
Near stairs so that each tread receives direct light	At each change of direction	Near each first aid post
Near any other change of floor level	At each intersection of corridors	Near each piece of firefighting equipment and callpoint