When Did You Last Test Your Emergency Lighting?

If the power fails during a fire, your emergency lighting is what gets people down the stairs and out of the building. It is also one of the easiest things to forget about. The fittings sit quietly on the ceiling for years, and a failed battery looks exactly the same as a healthy one until the moment you need it.

If you manage an office, a warehouse or a shared building, emergency lighting testing is likely to be part of your role. This guide covers what the regulations require, how often emergency lighting should be tested, what the checks involve and how to keep a record that will stand up to scrutiny.

So, when was your emergency lighting last tested, and could you put your hand on the record if someone asked?

What Do the Emergency Lighting Regulations Require?

Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, the responsible person for a building in England and Wales must make sure fire safety measures are in place and kept in good working order. The responsible person is usually the employer or whoever controls the premises, and the day-to-day duties often fall to the facilities or office manager.

Where escape routes and exits need lighting, the Order requires emergency lighting of adequate intensity in case the normal supply fails. That lighting must also be maintained, which is where testing comes in.

The detail of how emergency lighting should be designed, tested and maintained is set out in British Standard BS 5266-1. It isn’t law in itself, but it is the benchmark that fire risk assessors and enforcing authorities use to judge whether a system is being properly looked after.

How Often Should Emergency Lighting Be Tested?

Government fire safety guidance for offices and shops and BS 5266-1 both point to the same basic routine:

• Monthly: a short functional test of every emergency light and exit sign.
• Annually: a full-duration test of the whole system, carried out by a competent person.
• Day to day: a quick look at charging indicators and warning lights, so obvious faults are picked up between tests.

If your building has an automatic self-test system, the tests still need to happen; the system simply runs them for you. Someone still needs to check the results, record them and arrange repairs when a fitting fails.

What Does the Monthly Emergency Lighting Test Involve?

The monthly test can usually be carried out by a trained member of staff. It involves:

• Switching off the mains supply to the emergency lighting, normally using a test key switch, to simulate a power failure.
• Walking the escape routes to check that every emergency light and illuminated exit sign comes on.
• Restoring the supply and checking that the charging indicators come back on.
• Recording the result, including any fitting that failed or looked dim.

The test only needs to be long enough to confirm each light works, so keep it brief and avoid draining the batteries. Working to a set route that covers every fitting makes it far less likely that anything gets missed.

What Happens During the Annual Emergency Lighting Test?

Once a year, the system should be tested for its full rated duration, which is usually three hours. This is the test that tells you whether the batteries can still do their job, and it should be carried out by a competent engineer.

As well as the duration test, an annual inspection will normally include checking:

• Fittings and exit signs for damage or deterioration.
• Battery condition and charging circuits.
• Previous faults, and whether repairs were completed.
• Whether the system still matches the building’s layout and escape routes.

That last point is easy to overlook. If you have moved partitions, added storage areas or changed how people leave the building, your emergency lighting may need to change too.

Planning Around the Recharge Time

After a full-duration test, batteries can take up to 24 hours to recharge, and during that time the system won’t give full cover. Plan the test for a time when the building is empty or lightly occupied, such as the end of the working week. Alternatively, ask your engineer to test alternate fittings on separate visits, so part of the system is always fully charged.

Why Your Emergency Lighting Log Book Matters

Testing only counts if you can show it happened. Your emergency lighting log book, usually kept as part of your wider fire safety log book, should record:

• The date of each test and who carried it out.
• The results, including any fittings that failed.
• Any faults found and the date they were fixed.
• Details of any changes or additions to the system.

A complete log book is one of the first things a fire risk assessor or fire officer is likely to ask for. It also shows you patterns, such as the same fitting failing month after month, which points to a fault that needs proper attention rather than another quick fix.

If you can’t find a record of your last emergency lighting test, treat that as a sign the system is overdue.

Signs Your Emergency Lighting Needs Attention

Look out for these between tests:

• Lights that don’t come on, or go out early, during testing.
• Flickering, dim or patchy light.
• Charging indicators that are off or showing a fault.
• Damaged, discoloured or missing fittings and signs.
• Gaps in the log book, or an overdue annual test.

When a fault turns up, get it repaired promptly rather than waiting for the next scheduled visit. Batteries have a limited life, so a light that passes a short monthly check can still fail well before the end of a three-hour test.

Keep Your Emergency Lighting Ready with Lee Fire & Security

When the lights go out in an emergency, your staff and visitors need to find their way out quickly and safely. Well-maintained emergency lighting makes that possible.

Lee Fire & Security provides emergency lighting testing and servicing for commercial premises across Greater London and the surrounding areas. We can carry out your annual full-duration test, repair any faults and keep clear records of every visit, as part of a wider fire safety programme alongside your fire risk assessments and fire alarm maintenance.

Contact Lee Fire & Security to arrange your emergency lighting testing, or call 0800 731 3365.