Emergency Lighting Testing in London

The two tests, and what each one is for.

Emergency lighting exists to light the escape route when the mains fails. Because it only works when it is needed, it is tested by making it work: the mains supply to the fittings is interrupted and each fitting has to light from its own battery. BS 5266-1 sets out the design and the duty to test; BS EN 50172, published in the UK as BS 5266-8, sets the test schedule.

• Monthly function test: the supply is cut for long enough to confirm that every luminaire and every illuminated exit sign switches to battery and lights. It is short by design, so the batteries are not drained. Every fitting is checked, not a sample.
• Annual full-duration test: the supply is cut for the full rated duration of the system, usually three hours, and every fitting must still be lit at the end. This is the test that finds batteries at the end of their life, because a tired battery will pass a one-minute test and fail at ninety minutes.
• Daily check: where a central battery system is fitted, its indicator lamps are checked each day. Self-contained fittings, which are what most London offices and shops have, do not need a daily check.

After the annual test the batteries need time to recharge, so the test is done at a time of low risk, usually outside occupied hours, and the building is not left relying on flat batteries.

Who can carry out the tests.

The monthly function test can be carried out by a trained member of the building’s own staff using the test switches or the test facility on the fittings, and many responsible persons do it that way. In practice it is the test most often missed, because it has no contractor attached to it and slips when the person who did it leaves.

The annual full-duration test, any work on the fittings and any change to the installation should be carried out by a competent person, which in practice means an electrician who works on emergency lighting regularly. Repairs to a fire safety system are not general electrical work.

In a compliance contract we do both. The monthly test goes on the same walk round as the fire alarm call point test and the fire door checks, and the annual test is booked on the statutory compliance calendar with the electrical contractor who also holds the EICR for the building.

What the logbook must hold.

BS 5266-1 requires a logbook to be kept on the premises and available to the responsible person and to anyone inspecting the building. It is the evidence that the tests happened. A building with working emergency lighting and no logbook cannot show that it is compliant.

• The date the installation was completed and the completion certificate for it, plus certificates for any later alterations.
• The date and result of every monthly function test and every annual duration test.
• Every defect found, the date it was reported and the date it was put right.
• Every change to the installation, including fittings added, moved or removed when the layout changed.
• The name of the person or company responsible for testing and maintenance.

We keep the logbook against the building in the same certificate library as the EICR, the fire alarm service records and the fire door register, so the fire safety position is in one place when a fire officer, an insurer or a fire risk assessor asks for it.

What fails, and why.

Most emergency lighting failures are quiet. The fitting looks fine, the charge indicator glows, and nobody finds out it will not hold a charge until the annual test or the night the power goes off.

• Batteries at the end of their life. The standard asks for a four year design life, so a self-contained fitting older than that is the first suspect when it fails the duration test. Battery replacement is cheap; finding out during an evacuation is not.
• Coverage that no longer matches the building. Partitions moved, a room subdivided, a new corridor formed, and the fittings stayed where the original layout put them. The escape route has changed and part of it is dark.
• Signage. Exit signs that are missing, pointing the wrong way, not illuminated, or a mix of old and new pictograms that do not match. BS ISO 7010 sets the current symbols.
• Fittings that have been painted over, boxed in, blocked by storage or disconnected during other works and never reconnected.
• Lamp or LED failure in a fitting whose battery is still good, which a monthly test finds in a minute and a year without testing does not.
• Test keys and switches missing, so nobody has actually been able to run the monthly test for months.

How it fits a facilities management contract.

Emergency lighting is a small line on a compliance contract and one of the most commonly missed obligations in London commercial buildings, precisely because it is low cost and easy to defer. It sits on the statutory compliance calendar alongside fixed wire testing, the fire alarm, fire doors, extinguishers, water hygiene and gas, and it is tested and recorded on the same cycle.

The fittings that fail are repaired or replaced from the test report, priced and scheduled with the other remedials for the building, and the logbook is updated when the work is done. If a fit-out or a partition change is planned, the emergency lighting is reviewed as part of it rather than found wanting at the next fire risk assessment.

For a standalone building we also carry out testing on its own, monthly and annually, with the logbook kept and the repairs quoted from the report.

Common questions

Questions we get asked about emergency lighting.

Guidance reviewed September 2026