What emergency lighting tests does BS 5266-1 require?
BS 5266-1 recommends two routine tests: a short function test every month and a full-duration test once a year. Both are recorded in a logbook.
BS 5266-1 is a code of practice rather than a law, but it is the standard that fire risk assessors, fire officers and insurers generally expect you to follow. Keeping to it is the clearest way to show your emergency lighting is being maintained.
- Daily
- A glance at central battery systems, if you have one. Most small sites do not.
- Monthly
- A short function test of every fitting and exit sign on battery.
- Annually
- A full-duration test for the rated period, commonly three hours.
- Every time
- Results, faults and repairs written in the logbook.
Who is responsible for emergency lighting in a business?
The responsible person. Under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, that is usually the employer, the owner, or whoever controls the premises. In a shared building or an HMO, the landlord or managing agent often holds it for the common areas.
The responsible person must carry out a fire risk assessment and make sure fire safety equipment, including emergency lighting, is kept in working order. You can hand the testing to someone competent, which is where we come in, but the duty itself stays with you.
If you are not sure who the responsible person is in a shared building, check your lease or ask your landlord or managing agent.
How is the monthly function test done?
By cutting the mains supply to the emergency fittings for a short time, usually with a test key switch, and checking each fitting and sign lights up on its battery. It is often called a flick test.
The test only needs to run long enough to see that every lamp comes on, then the supply is restored. Because it is short, the batteries are barely drained and the building stays protected.
Many businesses have a trained member of staff do the monthly test. Others prefer to hand it over, especially if they have several sites or a lot of fittings. We can include monthly or quarterly tests in a planned maintenance visit, at a fixed price agreed in advance, so the logbook stays up to date without you having to remember it.
Why should the annual duration test be done out of hours?
Because after the test the batteries are flat and need time to recharge. Until they do, the building has little or no emergency lighting if the power fails.
The annual test runs each fitting on battery for its full rated duration, which is commonly three hours for premises where people may be present, although some fittings are rated for one hour. At the end we check every fitting is still lit. Recharging commonly takes up to 24 hours, depending on the fitting.
So we book the test when the building is empty or quiet, such as straight after closing, so the batteries recharge overnight. On larger sites, another option is testing alternate fittings on different visits, so half the lighting is always charged. We plan this within our hours of 8am to 8pm.
What goes in the emergency lighting logbook?
Every test, every fault and every repair, with the date and who did it. The logbook is the first thing a fire risk assessor or fire officer is likely to ask to see.
- Monthly tests
- Date, result and any fittings that failed.
- Annual duration tests
- Date, the duration tested and the result for each fitting.
- Faults found
- Which fitting, what was wrong and when it was reported.
- Repairs
- What was replaced and the date it was put right.
- System changes
- Fittings added, removed or moved.
What happens when an emergency light fails its test?
We record the failure, tell you, and give a fixed price to fix it. The most common cause is a battery that no longer holds its charge for the full duration.
Batteries in self-contained fittings wear out over a few years. If the fitting is in good condition, a replacement battery is often enough. If the fitting is old, damaged or the battery is no longer made, replacing the whole fitting is usually the better choice. Other common faults are failed lamps, broken diffusers and exit signs that do not match the current escape route.
Where your fire risk assessment calls for extra fittings, such as on a new escape route or after a refit, we can install them.
Should we switch to LED or self-test emergency fittings?
Often yes, especially when old fittings need replacing anyway. LED emergency fittings use less power, last longer and usually need fewer lamp changes than older fluorescent ones.
Self-test fittings run their own function and duration tests automatically and show the result on an indicator light. They save time, but they do not remove the need for checks. Someone still needs to look at the indicators each month and record the results in the logbook, and act on any fault they show.
If you are already planning an LED lighting upgrade, it is a good time to replace emergency fittings too, as the work can be done in one visit with one fixed price.