Photoluminescent Path Way Matting

Give the sheet size and the number of sheets, and say where it will lie: engine-room walkways, workshop, control room or passenger areas. That decides how much it must resist oil and wear and how it is fixed down.

Ask the maker for the glow performance as figures, with the test standard, not only "glow in the dark". Makers do publish them: one supplier of photoluminescent matting states that it meets the safety-sign requirements of DIN 67510 Part 1, glows for up to about ten hours after charging under ambient light, and has an R11 slip-resistance rating to DIN 51130. Ask for the same kind of data so that offers can be compared.^[2]

Ask for luminance in mcd/m² at 10 and 60 minutes. Those are the points the IMO low-location lighting guidelines use: at least 15 mcd/m² 10 minutes after the light is removed, and more than 2 mcd/m² for 60 minutes. The material also needs enough ambient light where it lies to charge to that level.^[3]

On passenger ships carrying more than 36 passengers, escape routes must be marked by low-location lighting (LLL) placed close to the deck. The IMO guidelines ask Administrations to make sure LLL systems meet an accepted international standard. In corridors the LLL goes on the bulkhead within 300 mm of the deck, or on the deck within 150 mm of the bulkhead.^[3]

Today that requirement sits in SOLAS regulation II-2/13.3.2.5.1 and chapter 11 of the FSS Code, and ISO 15370 sets the approval, installation and maintenance requirements. Check with the flag or class before counting matting as part of the approved LLL system: on its own it is an extra aid.^[4][3]

Where it does form part of the LLL, the guidelines ask for a visual check at least weekly, with a record, and replacement of anything missing or damaged. Luminance is tested on site at least every five years.^[3]