Electrical service · Kent
Emergency Lighting
Emergency lighting installation, monthly and annual testing and certification to BS 5266 for Kent businesses, landlords and licensed premises. Call 07825 333341.
In short
How often does emergency lighting need testing?
Under BS 5266-1:2025, emergency lighting needs a short function test every month and a full-duration test once a year. The monthly test is a brief flick test to prove each luminaire illuminates and its charger is working. The annual test runs the system on battery for its full rated duration — three hours in most premises — and every fitting must still be lit at the end of it. Both results go in the premises log book, and the responsible person named under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 is accountable for them being done. William's Electrical carries out emergency lighting installation, testing and certification across Kent and Medway, and can run the annual test out of hours so the building keeps working. Call 07825 333341.
Emergency Lighting across Kent
Emergency lighting is the part of a building's electrics that has to work on the worst day it ever has. It is also the part most often found lapsed — batteries that no longer hold the full three hours, fittings that were never on the drawings, and a log book with a gap in it. We install, test, repair and certify emergency lighting to BS 5266-1:2025 across Kent and Medway: offices, shops, industrial units, HMO and flat communal areas, pubs and licensed premises. Where a system has been let go, we survey what is actually there against what the building needs, and give you a priced schedule to bring it back into compliance rather than a quote to rip it all out.
What's included
- Emergency lighting design and installation to BS 5266-1:2025
- Monthly function testing and annual full-duration (3-hour) testing
- Certification and log book entries suitable for a fire risk assessment
- Existing system surveys where coverage or records have lapsed
- Battery, lamp and faulty luminaire replacement
- Illuminated and maintained exit signage
- Communal area emergency lighting for landlords and managing agents
- Out-of-hours testing so premises keep trading
How it works
Survey the premises
We check what is installed against escape routes, exits and risk areas, and find the gaps in coverage and records.
Report or design
Either a priced schedule to put an existing system right, or a compliant design for a new one.
Install or test
Installation, or the function and full-duration testing, scheduled around how the building is used.
Certify & log
Certification and log book entries you can hand straight to a fire risk assessor or insurer.
Credentials
The things a procurement or facilities team usually asks for. Anything you need in writing, ask and we’ll send it.
NAPIT registered competent persons
Every installation certified to BS 7671 (18th Edition).
10-year workmanship warranty
NAPIT-backed, on every job we carry out.
City & Guilds 2391-52 inspection & testing
Held by Gary Williams, who carries out the testing.
Gate Safe Aware installer, reg. 2476
Powered gates, barriers and force testing on commercial sites.
Out-of-hours and weekend working
Priced up front where a daytime isolation isn't practical.
Phased testing
Board by board, so premises keep trading through it.
Sectors we work in
Retail & shop fit-outs
Unit fit-outs and refits, shopfront and signage supplies, display lighting, and out-of-hours working in trading centres.
Industrial & manufacturing
Three-phase supplies and sub-mains, distribution boards, motor, starter and isolator work on production plant, and machine wiring.
Offices & workspace
Small power and data containment, lighting and emergency lighting, board changes and fit-out packages in occupied buildings.
Landlords & managing agents
Fixed wire testing and emergency lighting across a portfolio on one rolling schedule, with the certification kept together.
Main contractors & shopfitters
Electrical packages priced from drawings and worked to your programme, as a subcontractor on your site rules.
Licensed & hospitality
Pubs, cafés and restaurants — emergency lighting, kitchen and equipment supplies, and testing scheduled around service.
Emergency Lighting — common questions
What is the difference between the monthly and annual test?
The monthly test is a short function test — you simulate a mains failure just long enough to confirm every luminaire lights up and its charger is working. The annual test is a full-duration discharge: the system runs on battery for its rated duration, normally three hours, and every fitting has to still be lit at the end. The annual one is what finds tired batteries, which is why it's the one that gets skipped and the one that matters.
Who is legally responsible for emergency lighting testing?
The responsible person under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 — in practice the employer, building owner, landlord or managing agent, depending on the premises and the lease. You can contract the testing out to us, and most people do, but the legal duty to make sure it happens and is recorded stays with the responsible person. Your lease will usually say who that is for a let unit.
Can you test without shutting the building down?
Yes. A function test is barely noticeable. The annual three-hour test does leave the system discharged while the batteries recharge, so on premises where that matters we phase it area by area, or run it out of hours. We agree which before we start.
Our log book has gaps — where do we stand?
It's common and it's fixable. We survey what's installed, test it, and start a clean record from a known position, with the findings written up so you can show a fire risk assessor or insurer what was found and what was done about it. That's a far better position than a log book with invented entries in it.
Do communal areas in blocks of flats need emergency lighting?
Usually yes. Escape routes in blocks of flats and HMOs — landings, stairwells, corridors and the final exit — normally need emergency lighting, and it's the landlord-controlled supply that feeds it. It's the single most commonly overlooked installation we come across in converted properties around Medway and Maidstone, because nobody has formally owned that supply since the building was split.
Emergency Lighting across Kent
Get a quote for emergency lighting installation and testing.
Or call anytime
07825 333341 WhatsApp usinfo@williamselectricalkent.co.uk
Dyngley Close, Sittingbourne
Kent ME10 2BH
NAPIT registered · BS 7671 compliant · every job backed by a 10-year workmanship warranty.