Why exterior lighting maintenance has never been more important

Spending as little as £2 a day on maintenance could save your organisation thousands in replacement costs

Effective, regular maintenance is essential to ensure the long term viability and sustainability of all exterior lighting schemes. With costs rising and everyone feeling the pinch, businesses may be tempted to see maintenance as an easy target for cutbacks.

But this can be an expensive mistake leading to the need for bigger capital investment further down the line and even costly litigation in the event of an accident caused by poorly maintained products.

Established 50 years ago, Abacus has built its strong reputation on developing, installing and maintaining high quality exterior lighting systems, both in the UK and worldwide.

Health & Safety and Litigation

Following the recent introduction of the Health and Safety Offences Act in January 2009, it is vital to follow good practice and maintain high standards, not only to protect your workforce and the general public, but to avoid serious legal ramifications.

No one takes health and safety more seriously than Abacus and the company offers a range of options to maintain exterior lighting systems (whether they are Abacus systems or not) throughout their planned lifecycle. Bronze, Silver and Gold levels provide tailored packages which cover electrical, working at height and mechanical services.

Rob Eadson, maintenance manager at UK lighting manufacturer Abacus Lighting’s rapidly growing, dedicated maintenance department, explains the importance of maintaining your exterior lighting projects: “To protect a company’s lighting investment in the long term and to ensure the facilities are fully compliant with electrical and mechanical regulations and guidelines; ongoing maintenance of exterior lighting is vital. Companies are obliged by law to undertake adequate precautions against the risk of death or personal injury from electricity at its facility.”

“With Abacus’ maintenance services, companies can look after their lighting projects safely from under £2 per day which is a small price to pay for total peace of mind.

A local authority was recently fined £40,000 and ordered to pay £16,445 in costs after pleading guilty to breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act (HSWA) 1974.

“The council was found to have no planned system of maintenance on a block of flats on a housing estate which resulted in the death of a subcontractor working on them. The court heard that the death could have been avoided if regular testing had taken place.”

NICEIC Standards

Eadson, who has been at Abacus for 30 years, continues: “A facility must also prove that it is certified National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Consulting (NICEIC) compliant. This is advisory on a five year basis. Abacus undertake periodic certification of a facility to NICEIC standards as part of our Silver and Gold maintenance programmes. We have qualified electrical engineers to carry out all our services and we are certified to ISO9001:2000.”

Maintenance Can Boost Performance

Regular maintenance can also improve the performance of your lighting scheme and ensure it continues working at optimum levels throughout its planned lifetime.

Eadson explains: “Take sports levels, for example. These levels are designed to achieve a maintained level of light below which it should not fall. This level can only be achieved by carrying out regular cleaning of the floodlight glass. Lighting Guide 4: Sports Lighting published by The Society of Light & Lighting (part of CIBSE – the Chartered Institution of Building and Service Engineers) indicates that between 10 per cent and 17 per cent of the light output of a floodlight is lost through dirt depreciation over a three year period without cleaning, dependent on the site location. So, a facility’s lighting levels can be boosted just by having the front glasses cleaned regularly!”

Don’t Forget the Masts and Columns

It’s not just the floodlights themselves which need regular attention in order to ensure the safety and longevity of your lighting project. Lighting masts, be they fixed or hinged, are designed in compliance with the ILE Technical Report No. 7 (Institution of Lighting Engineers). Similarly, this design standard, which is recognised and accepted worldwide, stipulates a maintenance and inspection regime which ensures your masts or poles remain safe. Abacus’ maintenance regime involves the inspection of foundation bolts, security of floodlight brackets, and a range of other checks.

Abacus’ patented base hinged masts allow lowering of the floodlights to ground level so that maintenance can be carried out in complete safety. Abacus now offers counterbalance training in order that simple lamp replacement can be carried out by a company’s own personnel.

Counterbalance Training

Eadson said: “Our counterbalance training can be carried out on site or at the Abacus Head Office. The course consists of a full demonstration of the lighting column being lowered and the trainees get the chance to ask any technical questions they may have, as well as being issued with the appropriate certification.”

The counterbalance training has been introduced as part of Abacus’ rapidly growing, dedicated maintenance department. Eadson formed the new team two years ago and with turnover doubling year on year, Abacus’ reputation as leaders in maintenance growing, contracts are coming in from all over the UK and as far afield as Barbados.

Eadson concluded: “Some of our customers have been with us for over 25 years because they know that Abacus is a name to be trusted. With 50 years experience, our core competencies and quality products, we can offer a total turnkey package for total peace of mind.”

”In fact, we’ve become so widely accepted as the maintenance specialists that we’re constantly asked to maintain non-Abacus products on a regular basis too.’