Electrical Safety in Street Lighting – A National Concern We Can’t Afford to Ignore
Across the UK, our streets are lined with an essential but often overlooked asset: street lighting columns. These structures aren’t just about visibility – they’re about public safety, community confidence, and infrastructure resilience.
Yet, as industry professionals, we at MMA Lighting Consultancy Ltd see the reality every day. Too many lamp columns are suffering from years of neglect: outdated wiring, corrosion, poor maintenance, and a lack of regular safety inspections.
Street lighting columns are live electrical systems – exposed to the elements, human interaction, and environmental wear and tear. Without proactive maintenance, they can become not only unreliable but dangerous.
We’re calling on local authorities, asset managers, and infrastructure planners:
- Invest in regular inspections and electrical testing
- Prioritise upgrades for aging infrastructure
- Collaborate with industry experts to ensure compliance and safety
Along with the electrical safety of your lighting asset there is also the actual lamp column to consider. The Institution of Lighting Professionals Guidance Note 22, Asset-Management Toolkit: Minor Structures (ATOMS) is helpful for everyone who has a responsibility to manage highway assets. The document advises on how the asset owner can develop an Assumed Residual Life (ARL) value for the lighting column.
This enables them to effectively plan and budget for the future, considering:
- What inspection and testing to undertake.
- What will be the effect of interventions to extend the life of the minor structure.
- What may be the negative effect if additional attachments could be fitted to it.
ATOMS provides guidance on how these factors can be determined through a risk based approach based upon visual inspection and non-destructive testing.
For more information on the guidance note from The Institution of Lighting Professionals please see the link below:-
https://theilp.org.uk/publication/guidance-note-22-asset-management-toolkit-minor-structures-atoms/
At MMA Lighting Consultancy, we’re committed to helping bring street lighting infrastructure up to modern standards – not just because it looks better, but because it saves lives and prevents failures.
Let’s stop treating this critical infrastructure as an afterthought.
Get in touch if you want to discuss how to ensure that your street lighting assets are safe, compliant, and future-proof.
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At MMA Lighting Consultancy Ltd we produce a variety of Street Lighting Designs, on sites that can be located anywhere across the county. These jobs can be for large developer companies, civil engineering companies of for planning architects. If you are need of assistance with a street lighting design please feel free to get in touch and we will lead you through the process.
Email: info@mma-consultancy.co.uk
Telephone: 0118 321 5636
