Lighting & Controls
Emergency & Egress Lighting
Exit signage, illuminated egress paths and the documented testing that keeps them defensible.
Emergency lighting is the one system in a building that is expected to work on the single occasion it is ever needed, having sat idle until then. That is a difficult thing to guarantee, which is why the codes are prescriptive about testing and why testing is the part that most often goes undone.
What the system has to do
On loss of normal power, the egress path has to remain illuminated to a defined minimum level for 90 minutes, and exit signage has to remain visible. That is the requirement in substance; the implementation varies with building type and occupancy.
- Exit sign installation, replacement and retrofit
- Emergency egress path illumination
- Battery-backed fixtures and integral emergency drivers
- Central inverter systems and emergency panels
- Generator-backed emergency circuits and transfer
- Stairwell, corridor and assembly-area lighting
- Monthly and annual testing with documentation
- Correction of inspection deficiencies
The testing requirement people skip
Codes generally require a functional test every month and a full-duration discharge test annually, with results recorded. In practice this is the most commonly neglected compliance obligation in commercial buildings — partly because it is tedious, and partly because nothing appears to be wrong when it is skipped.
It becomes visible in exactly two situations: a fire marshal inspection, and an actual emergency. Neither is a good moment to discover that a third of the batteries no longer hold 90 minutes.
Self-testing hardware is usually worth it
Self-testing and self-diagnostic emergency fixtures run their own scheduled tests and signal failures locally or back to a monitoring system. On any building with a meaningful number of fixtures, the labour saved on manual monthly testing pays for the hardware premium quickly, and the compliance record becomes something you can actually produce on request.
Where fixtures are on a networked lighting control system, emergency test reporting can be consolidated with the rest of the lighting data.
Common questions
How often does emergency lighting need testing?
A functional test monthly and a full 90-minute discharge test annually is the general requirement, with records kept. Your authority having jurisdiction sets the specifics. We perform testing and provide documentation as a service.
Our building failed a fire marshal inspection on egress lighting. Can you fix it?
Yes. Correction work following a failed inspection is routine for us — we address the cited deficiencies, retest, and provide the documentation needed to close it out.
Are self-testing fixtures worth the extra cost?
On most buildings with more than a handful of fixtures, yes. The saving is in labour rather than hardware: manual monthly testing across a building is expensive and easy to defer, and self-testing units produce a compliance record automatically.
Ready to talk about your project?
Tell us what you need and we will give you a straight answer on scope, schedule and cost. No obligation, and no pressure if it turns out we are not the right fit.