Overview

This document (EN 16276:2012) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 169 "Light and lighting", the secretariat of which is held by DIN. The Directive 2004/54/EC of the European Parliament of 29 April 2004 aims at ensuring a minimum level of safety for road users in tunnels in the Trans-European Network by the prevention of critical events that may endanger human life. With regard to lighting, there are two cases: normal lighting and safety lighting. Normal lighting is designed to ensure appropriate visibility during the day and night for drivers in the entrance zone as well as in the interior zone. Safety lighting is divided into two parts: emergency lighting and evacuation lighting. Emergency lighting is provided to ensure a minimum visibility for tunnel users to evacuate the tunnel in their vehicles in the event of a breakdown of the power supply. Evacuation lighting is provided to guide tunnel users during evacuation of the tunnel on foot in emergency circumstances such as fire. Evacuation lighting includes evacuation route marker lights, emergency exit lighting, emergency exit marker lights and evacuation route lighting. This standard specifies requirements for evacuation lighting in road tunnels longer than 500 m and with an AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic) higher than 500 vehicles to facilitate the safe evacuation of vehicle occupants in evacuation situations such as fire. It addresses the fundamental issues of evacuation lighting for evacuation routes, emergency exits and cross connections; furthermore, it provides some practical advice regarding aspects of installation and maintenance of evacuation lighting in road tunnels. It is intended to use the standard in conjunction with CEN/CR 14380:2003 or relevant national standards for road tunnel lighting. The recommendations may also be applied to tunnels up to 500 m in length, especially where conditions such as high traffic volume, or severe curvature or gradient apply. Information about lighting levels and general provisions for the installation of evacuation lighting is provided. These are based on experience and are considered to be necessary for the safety of people driving through road tunnels in case of an incident and specifically in case of fire. However, as there are different types of road tunnels, both in construction and traffic conditions, and various types of incident may occur, this standard should be considered as a list of minimum prescriptions for evacuation lighting in tunnels, to be completed by means of specific risk analysis for the particular tunnel. The design of marking and safety signs is not part of this standard.

Document: references other documents

Document: referenced in other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 058-00-11 AA - FNL/FGSV 3.02 Exterior lighting  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 169/WG 6 - Tunnel lighting