Emergency Lighting Testing & Certification

The testing regime

• Daily — where a central battery system is used, check the indicators show healthy status.
• Monthly — a short function test of every emergency luminaire: simulate a supply failure, confirm each lamp illuminates, restore and confirm it recharges.
• Annually — a full-duration discharge test, running the system for its full rated duration (normally three hours) to prove the batteries genuinely last the distance.

Why the annual test catches what monthly tests miss

A monthly test proves a fitting lights up. It does not prove the battery can sustain output for three hours — and battery capacity fades with age. The annual duration test is the one that finds the fittings that would fail you in a real evacuation, which is exactly why it is the test most often skipped and most often picked up by inspectors.

Practical scheduling

Discharge tests need to be carried out outside normal working hours, because the building has reduced emergency cover while the batteries recharge. In premises occupied around the clock, testing is phased so only alternate luminaires are tested at a time. We plan the timing around how your building actually operates.

Records and certification

Every test is logged and certified. You get a clear report listing any failed fittings with a quotation for replacement, plus your logbook kept up to date — the documentation a fire officer, insurer or managing agent will ask for.

Automatic test systems

The 2025 revision of BS 5266-1 puts greater emphasis on automatic test systems, which run and record tests themselves. For larger or continuously occupied sites they remove the risk of missed manual checks and give a much cleaner audit trail. We can advise whether one is worth fitting.