I.S. 3217:2023
The emergency lighting test buildings fail.
The monthly check and the quarterly test both tell you the lights come on. Only the annual full duration test tells you they stay on, and it is the one most buildings have no certificate for.
A fitting that passes the quarterly can still be dead at ninety minutes.
Emergency lighting is rated for a duration, usually three hours. Everything short of the annual test measures something else.
The monthly item is an inspection: somebody on site confirms every maintained lamp and exit sign is lit and the charge indicators are healthy. It involves no duration at all. The quarterly test does simulate a mains failure, but only for thirty minutes on a three hour system, and the standard is explicit that it must never run more than a quarter of the rated duration. Thirty minutes proves thirty minutes.
Batteries do not fail loudly. They fade. A fitting that comfortably holds its thirty minute quarterly may be dark well before the three hours it is supposed to deliver, and it will keep passing every quarterly test on the way down. That gap is the entire reason the annual full duration test exists, and it is why an inspector asks for the annual certificate rather than the logbook.
The regime
Three intervals, and who does which.
The monthly check is yours. The two tests are ours. One of the four quarterlies is carried out as part of the annual visit, so in practice you see us four times a year rather than five.
Inspection
Your own responsible person confirms that every maintained lamp and every exit sign is lit and that the charge and health indicators are showing healthy. A walk around the building with a clipboard. There is no duration test here, and under the Irish standard there is not meant to be.
Functional test
Four times in every twelve months, every three months on the due date within thirty days either side. We simulate a mains failure for at least thirty minutes on a three hour system, or ten on a one hour system, and never for more than a quarter of the rated duration. Every luminaire and exit sign is checked lit during the test, and every indicator is checked healthy afterwards.
Full duration test
Once in every twelve months, after the three quarterlies. The whole system runs for its full rated duration: 180 minutes on a three hour system, 60 on a one hour system. Every luminaire has to still be lit at the end of it. This is the one that separates a system that lights from a system that lasts.
The annual test is scheduled, not squeezed in, and the standard says so. Clause 11.5.3 asks for full duration tests to be done before periods of minimum risk to the building and its occupants, and forbids discharging any part of the system for more than its rated duration in any twenty four hours. When the test ends the batteries are flat, and the building has no emergency lighting until they recharge. That is a decision about timing, not a favour.
The paperwork
What a certificate actually claims.
This is where emergency lighting differs from most compliance paperwork, and it is worth understanding before you file the next one.
Confirmation of annual inspection and testing
The annual certificate. Clause 11.5.2 allows it to be issued only when every item in the standard's checklist is confirmed and every fault and deviation has been put right. A C6 is not a record that somebody visited. It is a statement that the system passed clean.
Report following annual inspection and testing
What you get instead when the system does not pass. It states why the certificate could not be issued. If a C8 arrives rather than a C6, that is the document telling you there is outstanding work, and it is the one an insurer would want to see closed out.
Report for inspection, testing and servicing
Issued after each quarterly visit. A copy goes in the emergency lighting logbook and the due date schedule is updated, so the next visit is dated rather than remembered.
One thing worth knowing: what the standard asks of a system depends on the edition it was installed to. A system from the 1990s can hold a perfectly valid certificate and still do considerably less than one installed today would have to. The certificate is not wrong. It is answering an older question, which is worth knowing if you are planning an upgrade or comparing one building against another.
Starting from nothing
If you have no test records.
Quicker to put right than a fire alarm, because there is no history to reconstruct. The system either holds its duration today or it does not.
1. Survey. What is installed, where it is, and whether it still covers the escape route the building actually uses. Free of charge, whether or not you use us afterwards.
2. Run the full duration test. The honest starting point, and on a neglected system it is where the cost sits. Better found now than during an inspection.
3. Put right what failed. Quoted and itemised. Until it is done you get a report rather than a certificate, which is the standard working exactly as intended.
4. Start the logbook. Monthly inspections from that point, with the quarterly and annual visits dated rather than remembered.
Questions
Common questions.
What is an emergency lighting certificate?
Under I.S. 3217 it is the Annex C6 confirmation of annual inspection and testing, issued after the full duration test. It may only be issued when every fault and deviation has been rectified, which is what makes it worth something. If there is outstanding work you get an Annex C8 report instead, saying why.
Is the monthly check enough on its own?
No, and it is not meant to be. The monthly item is an inspection: the lamps are lit and the indicators are healthy. It measures nothing about duration. A building with twelve months of monthly records and no annual test has recorded the wrong thing very diligently.
Who is supposed to do the monthly inspection?
The building's own responsible person, not the contractor. It needs no tools and takes a walk around the building. We will show whoever it is what to look at and what to write down, and if it has lapsed it is the cheapest thing on this page to fix.
Why can the annual test not be done today?
Because it runs the system flat. The standard asks for full duration tests to be timed ahead of periods of minimum risk, and forbids discharging the system for more than its rated duration in any twenty four hours. Once the test finishes the building has no emergency lighting until the batteries recharge, so the visit goes where it does least harm.
Our fit out moved the walls. Does the lighting still count?
Not necessarily. Emergency lighting is positioned against the escape route, changes of level, final exits and specific risk areas. Move a partition and the route moves with it while the fittings stay where they were. A system can be fully tested, certified clean and still be lighting the wrong places.
Is this the same as the fire alarm servicing?
Different system, different standard, but worth coordinating. Most of our customers have an emergency lighting quarterly fall on the same visit as the fire alarm service, which cuts the number of times somebody has to let us in.
Not sure when yours was last tested?
If nobody can find a C6 for the last twelve months, assume it is due. We will survey the building free of charge and tell you what you have, in writing, with no obligation either way.