How Often Should Emergency Lights Be Tested? Monthly, Annual and the Log Book
Published 1 October 2026 · Updated 1 October 2026 · By Dan, ElectriVolt
An emergency light with a dead battery looks exactly like one with a good battery. The charge indicator glows, the fitting is clean, the exit sign is lit. The only way to find out which one you have is to take the power away and watch — which is the whole reason emergency lighting has a testing schedule at all.
The schedule itself is short: a quick check every month, a full-length test every year, and a record of both. What trips people up is the detail inside each one, and a few changes in the 2025 edition of the code of practice that most older guides have not caught up with.
How often should emergency lights be tested? Every emergency light should get a short functional test once a month, operated from the test key switch to prove it comes on when the supply fails. Once a year, each fitting needs a full-duration test run by a competent person. Every result, including every fault, should be written in the log book.
Where the schedule comes from
Fire safety law does not set any intervals. Article 17 of the Fire Safety Order simply requires safety equipment to be subject to a suitable system of maintenance and kept in efficient working order. The monthly and annual rhythm is how you show that duty is being met.
Government guidance spells the rhythm out. The Home Office guide for small non-domestic premises lists a monthly functional test of all emergency escape lighting units, an annual inspection and test by a competent contractor, and asks directly whether records of testing are kept.
The technical detail sits in the British Standard. BS 5266-1:2025 came into effect on 31 October 2025, replacing the 2016 edition, and is used alongside BS EN 50172:2024 and BS EN 1838:2024. If your contractor’s paperwork still quotes the 2016 edition, it is out of date.
The monthly test, step by step
The monthly check is often called a flick test, because on most installations it takes little more than a turn of a key. It is designed to be done by someone on site, not an engineer.
- Find the test key switch. Usually a small switch near the distribution board or beside the light switches for that area, operated with a fishtail-shaped key. It interrupts the supply to the emergency fittings without cutting the normal lighting.
- Turn it and walk the area. Every emergency fitting on that circuit should light, including the exit signs over doors. Look at each one — not a general impression that the corridor looks bright.
- Keep it short. The aim is to prove each fitting switches over to its battery, not to drain it. A minute or so is plenty.
- Restore the supply and check the indicators. Each fitting’s charge indicator should come back on. One that stays off is a fault even if the lamp worked.
- Write it down. Date, which areas, result, any fitting that failed, and your name.
The failures this catches are almost always the same: a battery that has reached the end of its life, a lamp or LED driver that has failed, or a fitting that was never actually wired to the unswitched supply in the first place. None of them are visible with the power on.
The annual full-duration test
Once a year, every fitting is run on its battery for its full rated duration, which is marked on the fitting. The point is to prove the battery still lasts as long as the building’s escape plan assumes it will. A battery that manages twenty minutes passes a monthly flick test perfectly well.
This is a job for a competent person rather than whoever has the key. During the test, they check every fitting stays lit for the whole period, that illumination along escape routes still looks adequate, and that signs remain readable. Afterwards, they confirm each fitting starts charging again.
The catch is the recharge. After a full discharge, the batteries take many hours to recover, and during that time the building effectively has little or no emergency lighting. So plan it properly:
- Test out of hours, or when the building will stay empty until the batteries have recovered.
- On larger sites, test alternate fittings on different visits so part of the coverage is always charged.
- Never run a full-duration test during trading and then lock up for the night on flat batteries.
Where most guides stop short: the 2025 edition of BS 5266-1 adds a check that did not exist before. The photometric performance of the system — whether it actually delivers the light levels it was designed for — should be verified when it is installed and then at intervals not exceeding five years. An installation that passes every monthly and annual test can still fail this, particularly after refurbishments that moved walls, fittings or furniture.
What goes in the log book
The log book is not a formality. It is the only thing that proves the testing happened, and it is the first thing a fire safety officer asks to see.
A good log book, paper or digital, holds:
- The completion certificate from the original installation, plus the design and handover information. The 2025 standard expects commissioning test results to be included in that handover pack.
- A record of every monthly test: date, areas tested, results, and who did it.
- A record of every annual test, with the periodic inspection certificate the contractor issues.
- Every fault found, and — just as important — the date it was fixed and by whom.
- Any changes to the system, and any points where the installation deliberately departs from the standard, with the reason.
A log that shows faults being found and fixed reads far better than an unbroken column of ticks. Nobody believes a system with fifty fittings that has never had a failed battery.
Do self-testing emergency lights change the schedule?
Self-test fittings and automatic test systems run the monthly and annual tests on their own, on a timer, and flag any fitting that fails. The 2025 edition of BS 5266-1 now gives “automatic test system” its own definition, which reflects how common they have become.
They are genuinely useful on larger sites, because they take the tedium out of walking every corridor with a key. But they change who presses the button, not what has to happen. Someone still has to read the results, act on the failures and record both. A self-test fitting quietly flashing a fault light in a stairwell that nobody walks down is not a tested system.
A few situations that catch people out
Buildings shut for long periods
Emergency lighting batteries do not like being left flat. The 2025 standard now asks designers to consider how a system is protected during a prolonged shutdown, and how it is recommissioned afterwards, because a long period of over-discharge can damage some battery types. If a unit has been empty and switched off for months, test it before anyone moves back in.
“We have plenty of light from the street”
For the smallest ground-floor premises, government guidance accepts that adequate borrowed light from outside, such as street lighting, can mean emergency lighting is not needed at all — a decision for your fire risk assessment. But BS 5266-1:2025 now excludes borrowed light from its scope, because it cannot be relied upon. Where you do have emergency lighting, streetlight spilling through the window does not count towards it.
New fittings on an old system
Swapping old fluorescent fittings for LED on a centrally supplied system is not always like-for-like. The 2025 standard asks for the supply capacity to be recalculated when a system is modified, partly because LED fittings can have a poor power factor. That is a design check, not a monthly test, but it is worth knowing before a well-meant upgrade.
Who can do what
The monthly test is intended for someone on site, and it is sensible to name that person and a deputy rather than leave it to whoever remembers. The annual full-duration test and the periodic inspection need a competent person — someone with the training, experience and equipment to judge whether the installation still meets the standard, and to issue the certificate that goes in the log book.
If you are not sure what your building is due, our overview of the fire alarm and emergency lighting testing UK premises are legally required to carry out puts both systems on one schedule.
Common questions
How long should emergency lights stay on during a test?
For the monthly test, only long enough to confirm every fitting has switched to its battery — typically a minute or so. For the annual test, the full rated duration marked on the fitting. Three hours is common in commercial premises, but check the fitting rather than assume, because the duration is part of the building’s design.
Can I test emergency lights myself?
Yes, for the monthly functional test. It is designed to be carried out by someone on site using the test key switch, and recorded in the log book. The annual full-duration test and periodic inspection should be carried out by a competent person, who issues a certificate for your records.
What is an emergency light flick test?
It is the common name for the monthly functional test. You briefly interrupt the supply to the emergency fittings using the test key switch, check each fitting lights on battery power, restore the supply, and confirm the charge indicators come back on. It proves the changeover works without draining the batteries.
Do self-testing emergency lights still need a log book?
Yes. Self-test and automatic test systems carry out the tests, but someone still has to check the results, arrange repairs for any fitting that fails, and record it. The log book is how you show the system is being maintained, whoever or whatever pressed the test button.
Annual test due, or no idea when it was last done?
We will carry out the full-duration test out of hours, fix what fails, issue the certificate and leave your log book up to date. Free quotes, no callout charge.
Talk to ElectriVolt, or read more about our emergency lighting installation and testing and planned electrical maintenance.
