At a high school one of the bathrooms does not have any emergency lighting. One person fliped of the lights on her way out leaving a teacher on the can in the dark. When she tried to leave in the dark she managed to hit a wall.
Does anyone know the building code of the ed code about the requirements lighting in a bathroom?
Are you assuming that there is no emergency lighting because the teacher was in the dark, or because you went in, looked around and didn’t see any emergency lights? Emergency lights don’t come on when you turn off the light switch. They come on when the building loses power. Even if they did have emergency lighting in the room, it wouldn’t have helped in this case. I know that doesn’t answer your question, but it’s phrased such that I think it may be based on a false premise.
Are you located in california, or are you looking for a master of the subject (i.e. a “caliph”?)
In many buildings the emergency circuits are energized 24/7 and not switched, so I was think from a blind spot. You are right a battery pack light would not come on if the main lights are turned off. And I would doubt that a single story school building would have an e-gen.
Thanks I will let my wife know that what is, is.
As far as I know, emergency lighting is required most notably in paths of egress and ‘places of shelter’. I don’t think bathrooms would fall under either one of those categories.
But regardless, the light was switched off by an occupant, not by a catastrophic event; simply turning off the light would not have triggered emergency lighting even if it were installed there.
In larger bathrooms with multiple stalls it’s customary to have keyed light switches. I’m not sure if that is a code requirement, but that would probably be covered in the Electrical Code, not the Building Code.
A simple ‘HEY!!!’ would have gotten the lights back on 
That was what I was not sure of.
I had a look at the NYC building code which is based on the IBC. California is also based on IBC; section BC1006.1-1006.3.2 covers general illumination requirements, nowhere does it specify the need for emergency lighting in bathrooms. However, a colleague of mine said that in commercial spaces and places of assembly, it’s generally good practice to have emergency lighting everywhere, just like smoke detectors and fire sprinklers(if used).
I don’t have the Electrical Code book handy but it may have separate reqs for this.
I suggest a simple California-style solution.
Effective immediately, all light switches must bear a large and ugly government designed warning label stating that turning off the light switch has been found to cause dangerous darkness.
Within two years all light switches must be replaced or altered so that turning off the switch will turn on a back-up safety light. The back-up safety light shall be required to produce electricity when it is not use.
(Bolding mine)
I don’t want to diss the victim in anyway, but nevertheless … this is a teacher, yet she neither shouted “hey!” when the lights were turned off (the natural reaction for one part of people) nor had the presence of mind to use her arms to slowly move around feeling things (natural reaction for other part of people?)
I’ve been in rooms with lighting turned off and didn’t want to bother turning it on, so I stretched out my arms and walked slowly, and went from memory of the room layout.
Also also, if this is a toilet, doesn’t it have windows to let air in (and stench out), which should let light from outside in (esp. now in summer)?
None of the bathrooms in the building I work in have windows; air circulation is handled by the building’s ventilation system.
To the OP, are you asking about emergency lighting to build an injury case against the state?
Way back when I was in high school, there was a saying So dumb she can’t find her ass in the dark with both hands, which we used to say about some teachers.
here we seem to have located one where it is literally true!
So why does this bathroom in a high school even have light switches available to patrons in the first place? Going back to a previous era, I’ve never seen a school where any bathroom has lights that can be controlled by users, including teachers-only bathrooms. The lighting is either timer-controlled, motion-sensitive, and/or controlled by a special key, to prevent the very problem described in the OP.
I would think that an ability to turn off lights in a bathroom (especially one with no external widows) in a school by anyone is a critical safety issue at best, and an assault waiting to happen at worst.
Oh please do say this ever again. Someone may hear you.
I doubt that it has any windows. Exhaust fan is normal.
No, from the other side.
This was part of my wife and her principle’s concern, that is why I asked.
Maybe in lieu of installing a new set of lights that would turn on when the main lights are turned off, is to replace the switches with keyed switches.
an occupancy switch would be energy saving. it turns on when a person enters or is sensed in the room and stays on for some set minutes (like 10 or 15).
I think you’re over-reacting a bit here.
“Critical” safety issue? When critical is usually defined as “high risk of death”? (See the SD column on this). Sorry, but I don’t see being in a bathroom in the dark is ‘life threatening’. At worst, a person might walk into a wall or a sink, and could fall down, and break a bone. But that’s pretty unlikely, and still not life-threatening.
And an assault? Assaults mostly happen in light; assailants need to see to hit their victim (and manywant to see the victim hurt). I don’t see where having a light switch makes the room any more of less likely as the site of an assault.
This just seems like a small but continuing step toward a nanny state.
As a taxpayer, I would prefer that the schools NOT spend extra money on costly keyed switches, and NOT spend money on electricity to run the lights all the time. I think the savings are worth the small risk.