Emergency lighting and exit signs failed the test

Get the log out first, then walk the building and physically press the test button on every unit, one by one, writing the result against a plan rather than trusting memory.

A failed test almost always means batteries, and where one unit has reached the end of its battery life the others installed at the same time are close behind it.

Why they fail without warning

A self-contained emergency fixture holds a sealed battery that is charging whenever the building has power. The battery degrades steadily over a few years and there is nothing visible about that process. The indicator lamp confirms the unit is receiving power and charging, which is not the same as confirming it would run for its full rated duration in the dark.

The result is a building where every unit looks correct, several would give a few minutes rather than the required duration, and nobody knows which. The annual duration test closes that gap.

The two tests are not interchangeable

The monthly function test confirms the unit switches to battery and illuminates. It takes seconds per fixture and it finds units that are completely dead.

The annual duration test runs the unit for its full rated period. It takes the whole period to perform, it has to be scheduled when the building can tolerate it, and it is the test that actually finds a battery that has weakened rather than failed.

Most buildings that fail an inspection have been doing the first and not the second, which is the single most common finding on this equipment.

What else turns up

Lamps that have failed in one head of a twin unit, which is easy to miss because the fixture still lights. Exit signs where the illumination has gone but the legend is still readable in daylight, so nobody notices. Units that were never connected to the correct circuit, which shows up as a unit that does not switch over when that circuit is isolated.

Coverage gaps, where a route has been changed, a wall added or a store built out and the lighting was never reconsidered. Damaged or painted-over fixtures, which happens more often than it should during a refurbishment.

Look at the signage while you are walking the routes, because it fails differently. Directional arrows pointing the way a building used to be laid out are common after a build-out, and a sign pointing at a wall is a finding in its own right. Check that each sign is visible from the direction people approach it, that nothing has been hung or stacked in front of one, and that the legend is legible rather than sun-faded.

Establish what kind of system you have before booking anything. Self-contained units with their own batteries, a central battery system and a generator-backed installation are tested differently and fail differently. Mixed installations are common in buildings that have been extended, and assuming one type across a whole site is how half the units go untested.

The order to work through it

Units on escape routes and at exits first, then stairs and changes of level, then open areas.

Where several units are the same age, price replacing them together rather than one at a time. Batteries installed in the same month fail in the same season, so a unit-by-unit approach means paying for repeat attendance across a year to fix a single underlying cause.

Then fix the log, which is the finding that recurs otherwise. A written schedule with a named person against it survives a change of staff in a way a habit does not.

Why this is licensed work

Emergency lighting and exit signs are electrical equipment, and electrical work in Florida requires a licensed electrical contractor at any job size. Replacing a fixture, working on the battery within it, altering the circuit and adding units on a changed escape route all sit on that side of the line. Our article on what legally needs a licensed electrician in Florida sets out the boundary in detail.

We take a conservative view of that boundary on this equipment specifically, because it is life safety and because the place a shortcut gets discovered is a claim. Relamping and mounting where no wiring is involved are performed directly by our technicians. The rest is coordinated through licensed contractors and documented by us.

Keeping it from happening again

Put the monthly function test on a named person and the annual duration test in the calendar with the other annual items, not in somebody's memory.

Add a walk of the escape routes to the quarterly property walk, looking at fixtures, signage and whether the routes themselves have changed. Where the trigger for reading this was a wider write-up, our piece on closing out a fire inspection report covers the rest of that list.