An emergency lighting certificate is the signed record that a system has been designed, installed and verified, or later inspected and tested, to BS 5266-1. The current edition is BS 5266-1:2025, in effect since 31 October 2025, and it carries four model certificates: completion (Annex H), small new installations of up to 25 self-contained luminaires (Annex I), verification of an existing installation (Annex K) and periodic inspection and test (Annex M). Routine testing is a monthly functional test and an annual full-duration test, normally 3 hours, and the 2024 and 2025 standards add a measured check of light levels at commissioning and at least every five years. None of that is covered by an EICR.
- BS 5266-1:2025 replaced the 2016 edition on 31 October 2025. The 2016 edition is withdrawn, so new certificates should name the 2025 edition unless the design was completed to the old one.
- There are four model certificates: Annex H (completion), Annex I (small new installations, up to 25 self-contained luminaires), Annex K (verification of an existing installation) and Annex M (periodic inspection and test).
- Routine testing is monthly (functional) and annual (full rated duration, normally 3 hours), every result in the logbook.
- New since the 2024 and 2025 standards: light levels are measured at initial verification and at intervals not exceeding five years.
- The 1 lx escape route minimum now applies across the width of the route, not just the centre line.
- An EICR covers the supply circuit only. Say so in the limitations and recommend a BS 5266-1 inspection.
- New emergency lighting wiring still needs its BS 7671 certificate (EIC or Minor Works) alongside the BS 5266-1 one.
What is an emergency lighting certificate and which standard is current?
BS 5266-1 is the UK code of practice for the emergency lighting of premises. It sets out how a system is designed, wired, commissioned, certified and maintained, and it leans on two European standards for the detail: BS EN 1838:2024 for the light levels and BS EN 50172:2024 for system requirements, routine testing and records. All three were revised within about a year of each other, and the last of them, BS 5266-1:2025, came into effect on 31 October 2025 with the 2016 edition withdrawn (NICEIC and NSI both confirm the date).
That matters for paperwork. A certificate declares conformity to a named edition, so a pad of forms headed "BS 5266-1:2016" is out of date for new work. NSI's guidance to its BAFE SP203-4 firms gives a sensible transition rule that anyone can follow: where a system was designed to the 2016 edition before the new one was published, the design certificate still refers to 2016; where installation or commissioning had not started at publication, that work follows the 2025 edition and is certified to it.
Because BS 5266-1 is a code of practice it uses "should", not "shall". The 2025 edition also swaps the word "deviation" for "variation": an intentional departure that gives an equal or better result, which has to be identified to whoever approves the system and written into the handover documents.
What changed in BS 5266-1:2025?
The full revision is long. These are the changes that affect an electrician installing, testing or certifying, taken from the NICEIC and ECA summaries of the new edition.
| Topic | 2016 edition | 2025 edition |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Emergency escape lighting, with "emergency safety lighting" for occupants who stay put | Adds local area lighting (the renamed emergency safety lighting) and standby lighting; borrowed light excluded as a source |
| Escape route light level | 1 lx minimum on the centre line | 1 lx minimum across the route floor, excluding a border strip (0.5 m on routes wider than 2 m) |
| Open areas | 0.5 lx in areas over 60 m² | 0.5 lx in rooms over 60 m² and smaller risk-assessed rooms, excluding a 0.5 m perimeter; an undefined route through the area means the whole area is treated as escape route |
| Points of emphasis | Luminaires sited near call points and equipment | Minimum 5 lx vertical at fire alarm call points, fire-fighting equipment, panels, escape plans and first-aid boxes |
| Light level checks | Verified from design data; no set interval for measurement | Photometric verification at initial verification and at intervals not exceeding five years |
| Model certificates | Completion, small installation, existing installation, periodic | The same four purposes in Annexes H, I, K and M; the small-installation form is for up to 25 self-contained luminaires |
| Departures | "Deviation" | "Variation", identified and recorded at handover |
| Power supplies | Source sized for the connected load | Supply sized in watts and VA including inrush and power factor; recalculate when a system is modified |
| Containment | General mechanical protection | Conduit or trunking relied on for mechanical protection to give at least 5 J impact protection |
| Central system cables | No separate identification clause | Cables to centrally supplied luminaires identified by a common colour or by labelling at every connection |
| Shutdowns | No specific design check | Procedures to protect batteries from deep discharge in a prolonged shutdown, and to recommission afterwards |
Two more details from the same summaries. "Refuges" become "temporary waiting spaces", and public indoor swimming pools get their own figure of at least 5 lx on the water surface and the circulation routes round it. The ECA adds that luminaires in high-risk areas should be fed from at least two separate circuits and that no more than 20 luminaires should be lost to a single circuit fault.
When is emergency lighting legally required?
The duty in England and Wales comes from the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Article 14 requires emergency routes and exits that need illumination to have emergency lighting of adequate intensity if the normal lighting fails, and article 17 requires it to be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair. The duty holder is the responsible person: the employer, or whoever controls the premises, including the landlord or managing agent for the common parts of a block of flats. Scotland has parallel duties under the Fire (Scotland) Act 2005 and Northern Ireland under the Fire and Rescue Services (Northern Ireland) Order 2006.
For new buildings and material alterations, Approved Document B (Volume 2, Table 5.1) lists the areas that need escape lighting, and building control will expect a BS 5266-1 completion certificate at handover. Licensed HMOs often have emergency lighting as a licence condition; see EICR for HMOs and EICR for flats and communal areas for where it turns up on residential work.
None of those laws names a certificate. They require a working, maintained system, and BS 5266-1 certificates and a filled-in logbook are how the responsible person proves it to the fire and rescue authority, the fire risk assessor and the insurer.
Which certificate do you issue for which job?
BS 5266-1:2025 gives four model certificates. Using the BSI layouts is not compulsory (the standard says so, and BSI allows unlimited copies of the annex models for your own use), but an equivalent form has to carry the same declarations. NICEIC publishes its own versions based on the models, several of them available to any contractor.
| Job | BS 5266-1:2025 certificate | BS 7671 certificate as well? |
|---|---|---|
| New system, or a designed extension or alteration | Annex H completion certificate, with separate design, installation and verification declarations | EIC for new circuits |
| Small new installation of up to 25 self-contained luminaires | Annex I small new installation certificate | EIC, or Minor Works if fittings are added to an existing circuit |
| Existing system with no paperwork, or taken over from another contractor | Annex K verification of an existing installation | No, unless you alter the wiring |
| Annual full-duration test and inspection | Annex M periodic inspection and test certificate | No |
| Like-for-like luminaire or battery replacement | Logbook entry; retest and note on the next periodic certificate | Minor Works where fixed wiring is altered |
The completion certificate splits responsibility three ways. The designer declares that the layout meets BS 5266-1 and BS EN 1838 for the risk assessment supplied; the installer declares that the system was installed to the design and wired correctly; the verifier declares that it was inspected and tested, including a full-duration test and now the photometric check. On a small job one electrician may sign all three. On a larger one a consultant signs design and you sign installation, and you should only ever sign for the part you did. Attach the as-installed drawings, the luminaire schedule with reference numbers, and the test results.
Annex K is the form people forget. When a client hands you a building with fittings on the ceiling and no drawings, no completion certificate and an empty logbook, an Annex M periodic certificate alone does not say whether the design is adequate. A verification of the existing installation records what is there, what it achieves and where it falls short of the current standard.
The BS 7671 side is separate and still applies. A new emergency lighting circuit is new fixed wiring and needs an Electrical Installation Certificate; a couple of bulkheads added to an existing lighting circuit go on a Minor Works certificate. The split between the three BS 7671 forms is covered in EICR vs EIC vs Minor Works. A new circuit in the common parts of a block of flats is also within Part P; see Part P notification.
What light levels are you certifying?
The verifier's declaration is against BS EN 1838:2024, so it helps to know the headline numbers even when someone else did the design.
| Location | Minimum level | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Defined escape route | 1 lx at floor level | Across the route, excluding a border strip; before 2024 the figure applied to the centre line only |
| Open area over 60 m² (anti-panic) | 0.5 lx at floor level | Excluding a 0.5 m perimeter; a defined route through it is lit to 1 lx |
| Fire alarm call points, fire-fighting equipment, panels, first-aid boxes | 5 lx vertical | At the equipment |
| Accessible toilets | 5 lx at floor level | Per the NICEIC summary of clause 5.2.8.5 |
| Public indoor swimming pools | 5 lx | Water surface and circulation routes |
| High-risk task areas | 10% of the normal task level, not less than 15 lx | Machinery, hot processes and similar |
The move from centre line to full width is the change most likely to catch an older scheme out. A corridor that passed on spacing tables for a 1 lx centre line can fall short at the edges under the 2024 figures, which is exactly what the new five-year measurement is there to find. Existing systems are not automatically non-compliant, but the gap belongs on the Annex K or Annex M certificate so the responsible person can feed it into the fire risk assessment.
What routine tests are required and how often?
BS EN 50172:2024 sets the routine and BS 5266-1:2025 repeats it. The schedule is the same for self-contained luminaires, central battery systems and automatic test systems; what changes is who or what does the work.
| Check | Interval | What is done | Where recorded |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicator check | Daily, central power supply systems | Confirm the supply and charger indicators show healthy | Logbook when a fault is found |
| Functional test | Monthly | Simulate a supply failure long enough to see every luminaire and internally illuminated sign light; check each is present, clean and undamaged; restore and confirm charge indicators | Logbook |
| Full-duration test | At least annually | Simulate a supply failure for the full rated duration; every luminaire still lit at the end; restore and confirm charging | Logbook and Annex M certificate |
| Photometric verification | Initially, then at intervals not exceeding five years | Measure light levels against BS EN 1838 | Logbook and verification records |
The monthly test is short on purpose. It proves changeover and lamp, not battery capacity, so keep it to the time it takes to walk the route; long monthly discharges shorten battery life for no benefit. Use the test key switch where one is fitted. Key switches exist so the emergency fittings can be dropped onto battery without switching off the normal lighting in an occupied building.
Automatic test systems to BS EN 62034 run the monthly and annual tests on a programme and log the results, but a person still has to read the results, deal with failures and sign the annual certificate.
How do you carry out the annual full-duration test?
- Agree a time of low risk with the responsible person. After a full discharge the batteries can take up to 24 hours to recover their rated duration, so the building has reduced cover until then. Out of hours is usual; in premises that never close, test alternate luminaires on different days so a charged fitting is always nearby.
- Check the logbook and the luminaire schedule first. If there is no schedule, make one, numbering every fitting, because "three failed" means nothing next year.
- Simulate the supply failure at the test switch or by isolating the circuit, and note the time.
- Walk the system at the start to confirm every luminaire and sign has changed over.
- Walk it again at the end of the rated duration, normally 3 hours. A fitting that has gone out, or is visibly dim, has failed. Note the duration achieved where you can.
- Restore the supply and confirm every charge indicator comes back on.
- Record each failure against its reference number, with the remedial action, and complete the Annex M certificate. Go back and retest repaired fittings; a failed fitting with a new battery has not been proved until it has run its duration.
Batteries are the usual failure. Nickel-cadmium packs in warm fittings commonly need replacing after about four years, so a block of fittings of the same age tends to fail together. Price the visit with that in mind and carry common battery packs.
A 1-hour duration is only acceptable in limited cases, essentially premises that are evacuated immediately on supply failure and not reoccupied until the batteries have recharged. If the fittings are 3-hour rated, test them for 3 hours.
What is the five-year photometric verification?
This is the headline change of the 2024 and 2025 revisions. Clause 7.3 of BS EN 50172:2024 adds measurement of light levels to initial verification, clause 7.4.5 says illuminance measurements shall be performed once every five years, and BS 5266-1:2025 picks both up in clauses 11.2 and 12. The ECA's summary puts it plainly: all three standards now require five-year verification of photometric performance.
The method is in Annex B of BS EN 50172:2024, reproduced in BS EN 1838:2024. In practice:
- The normal lighting is off and the emergency lighting is running on battery, so the survey has to fit inside the rated duration.
- Readings are taken at floor level on a grid across the route or area, not just under the fittings, with movable furniture that would shadow the grid cleared where possible.
- Stray light is the difficulty. Annex B gives four methods (A to D) depending on whether the stray light and the emergency light are constant. Where daylight or street lighting cannot be excluded, readings are taken with the emergency lighting off and on and the difference used, which needs a calibrated lux meter that resolves 0.01 lx.
- Calculation can be used to reduce the number of measurement points once measurement and calculation have been shown to agree.
Initial verification will normally fall to the installing contractor. The five-year repeat is for the responsible person to arrange, and it is new work for most clients, so raise it at the annual test rather than waiting to be asked. A basic lux meter that reads in whole lux is no use against a 0.5 lx or 1 lx limit; if you do not own a suitable instrument, say so and bring in someone who does.
What goes in the emergency lighting logbook?
BS EN 50172 requires a logbook kept on the premises in the care of a responsible person and available for inspection. It should hold:
- the date of commissioning and the completion certificate, with any certificates for later alterations
- the date and result of every monthly and annual test, and who carried it out
- every defect found and the remedial action taken, with dates
- alterations to the system
- the periodic inspection and test certificates and the photometric verification records
- for automatic test systems, their main characteristics and mode of operation
Up-to-date drawings showing every luminaire and the main components stay on site with it. A digital logbook is fine provided it can be produced on request; the points in digital vs paper electrical certificates apply here too.
Who is competent to sign?
BS 5266-1 is written for "appropriately qualified and experienced people", and the 2025 edition aligns its definition of competent person with BS 9991:2024 and BS 5839-1:2025. There is no statutory licence and no equivalent of the Part P schemes. Competence is judged against the task: an electrician who wires fittings to a consultant's drawings is competent to sign installation, but not necessarily design, and nobody should sign the photometric part without the instrument and the method.
Third-party certification is voluntary. BAFE SP203-4 covers design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of emergency lighting and is increasingly written into public sector, healthcare and facilities management contracts; NSI gave its SP203-4 firms until 30 April 2026 to move to the 2025 edition. A newer EAL Level 3 Award in emergency lighting covers design, installation and maintenance to the updated standards. Whoever signs, the legal duty to maintain the system stays with the responsible person. Your certificate is evidence that they have met it, not a transfer of it.
How should the supply circuit be wired?
Most of what an electrician installs is self-contained: each luminaire has its own battery and takes an unswitched feed. Two points decide whether it works when it is needed.
First, a non-maintained self-contained fitting should take its unswitched supply from the final circuit that feeds the normal lighting in the same area. The fitting only changes over when its own feed fails, so a bulkhead fed from a different circuit stays dark when the local lighting MCB trips. That is the most common design fault on small jobs and it does not show up on a BS 7671 test.
Second, a test facility should let the emergency fittings be dropped off supply without killing the normal lighting, which is what the key switch is for.
Central battery and central power supply systems are different. The cables from the central source to the luminaires have to keep working in a fire, so they are fire-resistant types selected to clause 8 of BS 5266-1, and the 2025 edition wants them identifiable by colour or labelling. BS 7671 Chapter 56 applies to them as safety services. Under BS 7671:2018+A4:2026 the regulation group 560.6 on sources is reworded around primary and stationary secondary batteries, central safety power supply systems are to conform to BS EN 50171, and the new Chapter 57 on stationary batteries excludes emergency lighting systems to the BS 5266 series from its scope (SELECT's summary of the amendment lists all three).
One thing A4 clarifies is worth repeating. Regulation 521.10.202, on supporting wiring systems so they do not collapse early in a fire, is about keeping fallen cables out of the way of people escaping and firefighters. It is not a circuit integrity rule. Metal fixings on a twin-and-earth feed to a self-contained fitting satisfy 521.10.202; they do not make the circuit fire-resistant, and for a self-contained fitting they do not need to.
What should you record about emergency lighting on an EICR?
An EICR reports on the fixed installation against BS 7671. It does not assess whether the emergency lighting meets BS 5266-1, and clients regularly assume it "covers the fire stuff". Put it in writing.
In the extent and limitations, something like: "Emergency lighting function, duration and light levels not tested; outside the scope of this report. Recommend inspection and test to BS 5266-1 by a competent person." There is more wording in EICR sampling and limitations explained.
What you do test is the supply circuit, as for any lighting circuit: protective device, cable, continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, Zs and any RCD. The sequence is in how to do an EICR step by step. Remember that isolating for dead tests puts self-contained fittings onto battery. Keep the isolation short, tell the client the fittings will be recharging afterwards, and do not leave a circuit off overnight. For insulation resistance, test line and neutral together to earth at 500 V so the control gear is not stressed, or disconnect fittings where the manufacturer says to; see the insulation resistance testing guide.
| What you find | How to record it |
|---|---|
| Luminaire damaged | BS 7671 defect: C1 where live parts can be touched, C2 where damage makes that likely |
| Class I emergency fitting with no cpc connected | BS 7671 defect: C2 |
| Cables liable to premature collapse in a fire (plastic clips or plastic trunking only) | BS 7671 (521.10.202): typically C3 on an existing installation |
| Charge indicator out, fitting dead on a quick check | Not a BS 7671 code; note it and recommend BS 5266-1 inspection |
| Non-maintained fitting fed from a different circuit to the local lighting | Not a BS 7671 code; note it and recommend BS 5266-1 verification |
| No logbook, or last annual test years ago | Note in the report summary and tell the client directly |
| No test facility, or key switch unlabelled | Note with a recommendation |
Coding and wording are covered in EICR observation codes explained and how to write EICR observations. The uncoded notes matter as much as the codes here. A facilities manager who reads "no emergency lighting test records seen" in plain words on page one will usually act on it.
How does emergency lighting fit with EICR intervals?
IET Guidance Note 3 lists emergency lighting with a recommended maximum of 3 years between periodic inspections of the wiring, which runs alongside the monthly, annual and five-year BS 5266-1 cycle for the system itself. On a typical commercial site that leaves four separate clocks: the EICR, the annual emergency lighting certificate, the five-year lux survey and the fire alarm service. See EICR for commercial premises, how often is an EICR required and, for the fire alarm side, fire alarm certificates to BS 5839-6.
How Certio helps
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