Emergency lighting requirements for commercial buildings

If you own or manage a commercial building, the emergency lighting requirements come down to four things: emergency lights that come on when the power fails, a short check of every unit each month, a longer test once a year, and a written record of every test. The monthly check is simple enough for your own staff to do.

What the requirements cover

The emergency lighting code requirements are set out in the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) and in your local fire code. They apply to your emergency lights, your exit signs, and the combination units that do both.

When the normal power fails, emergency lights have to come on and stay on for at least 90 minutes. Most emergency lights run on batteries, and the battery is what keeps the light on while the power is out. Exit signs are covered too: federal workplace safety rules require every exit to be marked with a sign reading "Exit", and every exit sign to be lit.

The monthly check

Every month, every unit gets a test of at least 30 seconds, and each exit sign is checked to confirm it is lit. On a typical unit, the test means pressing and holding the test button for 30 seconds and watching the light. A unit passes when it lights at full brightness for the whole 30 seconds. If it does not light, comes on dim, or does not stay at full brightness for the 30 seconds, it should be serviced, repaired or replaced.

If your units have a small charging light, a lit one does not guarantee the unit will come on when the power fails. That is why the monthly check uses the test button rather than the charging light.

Your own maintenance staff can do this check, and it can go on the same round as the monthly fire extinguisher check covered in how to read a fire extinguisher inspection tag.

The yearly test

Once a year, each unit runs on its battery for the full 90 minutes the Life Safety Code (NFPA 101) sets. Normal power to the unit is switched off — at the breaker, or by unplugging it — so that only the battery is keeping the light on, and the light has to stay at normal brightness for the whole test. Batteries that fail are replaced.

When a unit fails

When we find failed units, it is usually several at once rather than one. Where the cause was written down, the two that come up most often are a fixture with no power reaching it and a battery that no longer works. Whatever the cause, once it is fixed, the unit is tested again and the repair is written into the log.

Keeping the record

Every monthly check and every yearly test is written down, and you keep that record for the authority having jurisdiction — the office that enforces the fire code for your building. Keep it as a simple log. For each test, it notes:

• Which unit was tested, and where it is.
• The date, and who did the test.
• Which test it was — the monthly check or the yearly test.
• For the yearly test, how long the unit stayed lit.
• Pass or fail, the reason for a fail, and the repair that followed.

Kept month after month, the log shows each unit's history at a glance, and it is ready whenever it is asked for.

We handle the yearly test, battery replacement and repairs as part of emergency light testing across New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, with the results recorded unit by unit. Tell us what is installed and we will put it on one inspection calendar alongside the rest of your fire protection.