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All places of work are required to provide adequate means of escape, and these routes and exits need to be properly covered by emergency lighting, so that they are visible even in a power cut. Assign a ‘Responsible Person’ to ensure these measures are in place.
The nature and extent of emergency lighting will vary with different premises, and the time that the lighting is required to stay on for could be between one and three hours. The basic function of this is so that there is enough lighting to get everyone safely out of the building in an emergency, but the longer the lighting last the better. In order to ensure that the lighting is functioning properly and able to last as long as it needs to, the emergency lighting system must be tested regularly.
Some of the more modern systems will be capable of testing themselves, but the majority of buildings will have older emergency lighting which requires manual testing. How this is done will depend on the system in place, but the usual method is to use a special switch with a ‘fishtail key’ to trigger the lighting.
The best way to organise your testing is to be systematic about it and keep an accurate record in a logbook. You should carry out different tests at regular intervals, weekly, monthly, six monthly and annually. Daily checking is recommended for premises with maintained lighting (emergency lights which stay on all the time). This just needs to be a visual check to ensure they are all working, and deal with any which are not.
A monthly check should include cutting the power to all lighting, just to ensure that all non-maintained bulbs (ones which only come on in a power cut) are working. If you do not have a testing facility with a fish key, you can do this through your fuse box.
Every six months it is a good idea to cut the power for at least one hour to ensure the batteries last long enough. At least once every year you have to carry out a ‘full discharge test’ which involves cutting off the power and letting the entire system discharge. It is preferable to get a qualified electrical engineer to do this and check the whole system at the same time. When you carry out a full discharge test, you should time this so that your premises are not in use for the following 24 hours, as the batteries will all be drained and the emergency lighting therefore not working.
You should use a special form to record every time you carry out a test. There are forms available online free which you can download. The form should record the date of the test, the result of the test, any remedial action you have taken, and a signature of the person carrying out the test. Your local fire authority has the right to check whether you are properly testing and maintaining your emergency lighting system, so keeping a logbook with these records in can be very helpful when this happens.
