NEMA Makes Case for Lighting as Essential Business

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) and members of its Lighting Systems Division recently released a statement making the case that lighting and lighting system manufacturers be counted as essential businesses, which support critical infrastructure and a safe environment. NEMA requests that all government agencies explaining the details regarding stay-at-home policies explicitly include all lighting and lighting systems device manufacturers.

The statement continues: “The electrical industry must provide properly lit, safe, and secure environments for medical workers, grocery stores, gas stations, banks, distribution centers, homes and all other essential industries. Outdoor lighting is required to illuminate critical infrastructure and locations with national security implications including government facilities, roadways from interstate highways to municipal and local streets, bridges, toll plazas, utility sub-stations and field offices, border crossings, security checkpoints, docks, transit stations/subways, parking garages and lots at essential locations. NEMA lighting company Members provide lighting for every indoor and outdoor environment, and any disruption in the supply chain of critical needs must be avoided. As suppliers that support essential infrastructure sectors, it is self-evident that lighting and lighting systems manufacturing, and its associated supply and distribution chain, is necessary to produce and distribute lighting to these businesses.

“The lighting manufacturing sector has already taken proactive steps to assist in this current crisis. As facilities are being converted into medical centers, and factories are retrofitting to create emergency supplies, lighting and lighting system manufacturers are quickly supplying, through an existing supply chain, the necessary and specific products to support these efforts.”

To learn more about how lighting and lighting systems are determined as essential businesses, read the full statement from NEMA and members of its lighting division.