Emergency lighting and wayfinding provision systems for visually impaired people: Phase of a study

Abstract

This paper fully presents data concerned with a range of different emergency lighting systems and how suitable they are for people with different visual impairments. Using the Building Research Establishment's facility, it has been possible to examine the performance of several types of emergency escape route lighting and wayfinding provision. These include ceiling-mounted emergency luminaires, photoluminescent markings, electroluminescent strips , LED strips and miniature incandescent wayfinding strips. Thirty visually impaired volunteers have passed through the facility. Speeds of movement are presented here, along with results of a questionnaire that the subjects completed at the time of the tests. Comparisons are made with results from normally sighted people. It is found that mean walking speeds are significantly slower with the use of photoluminescent strips than with the other systems, and this system is considered the most dinlcult to use. The performance of users of the powered wayfinding systems is similar in terms of speed to that with the high-mounted emergency lighting provided, and these systems were thought to make it easier to see where to go.