Emergency lighting is tested monthly and for its full duration once a year. What each test involves, who can do it, and the records you need to keep.
Emergency lighting is tested twice over. Every luminaire gets a brief functional test each month, and the full system gets a full-duration test once a year, normally three hours with the normal lighting off, carried out by a competent person.
Both are recorded. The record is how you demonstrate that the lighting will work when it is needed.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires emergency routes and exits that need illumination to be provided with emergency lighting of adequate intensity, available if the normal lighting fails. The fire risk assessment decides where it is needed. Having it installed is only the start: lighting that has not been tested cannot be relied on, and a failed battery is invisible until the power goes.
BS 5266-1 is the code of practice for emergency escape lighting, and it is the standard against which testing is normally set. We summarise the regime here from the Fire Protection Association's published guidance. Because the standard itself is a paid document, check the current edition for the exact clauses that apply to your system.
The monthly test is a short functional check. It simulates a mains failure so that each luminaire switches to its battery and lights, and it confirms the luminaire is working.
The monthly test says nothing about how long the battery will last. It only shows that a luminaire switches on, and that is why it cannot replace the annual test.
Once a year the system is tested for its full duration. The primary lighting circuit is switched off and the emergency luminaires are left on, with all of them remaining lit throughout the period. Three hours is the standard figure given for this test.
Plan the test around the building. Batteries are discharged by the test and need time to recharge, so the test should be timed so that the escape routes are not left depleted overnight, and residents in an occupied block should be told what is happening and when. Where the building cannot be tested in one go, a phased test needs to be recorded luminaire by luminaire, so that every fitting has a test date.
| Test | How often | What it checks | Record |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly functional test | Every month | Each luminaire operates on its battery | Log of every test, with faults reported |
| Annual full-duration test | Every year | Batteries hold for the full duration | Certificate and per-luminaire log |
Emergency lighting is a good example of a compliance task where the work is easy and the evidence is hard. Most providers do test. The gap shows up when someone asks for the monthly record for a specific block and it turns out to be a stack of paper checklists, a spreadsheet or nothing at all.
A failed luminaire is a defect in a fire safety measure, and it should be fixed as soon as possible. The record should show the failure, the repair or replacement and a re-test. If an escape route is left without adequate lighting while it waits for a repair, that should be fed back into the fire risk assessment, because the assessment has to reflect the building as it actually is.
None of these are technical failures. They are tracking failures, which is why the fix is a schedule that names every luminaire and an owner for every due date.
Every luminaire gets a brief functional test each month, and the whole system gets a full-duration test once a year. Both should be recorded.
Three hours is the standard full-duration test: the normal lighting is switched off and the emergency luminaires must stay lit throughout. Confirm the rated duration of your own system with your engineer.
A competent person. Many providers use a trained person on site for the monthly test and a competent contractor for the annual test, which can often be combined with a fire alarm service.
A record of every monthly test including faults, a record for each annual test with the certificate, and evidence that defects were repaired and re-tested. A luminaire list lets you show that every fitting was covered.
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