Emergency lighting every six months: is that really the law?

Quick answer

The six-month testing interval for emergency lighting is real — but it does not come from a single line in Victorian statute. It flows from your building permit conditions and the maintenance schedule in AS 2293.2. If your permit required emergency lighting, that standard sets the framework, and most commercial occupancies end up on a six-monthly cycle as a result.

Where the “six months” actually comes from

The claim tends to circulate as: “Victorian law says you must test emergency lighting every six months.” That is close enough to be believed, loose enough to be wrong.

Here is what is actually happening. When a building goes through the permit process and emergency lighting is required — typically in commercial, industrial, and multi-occupancy buildings — the permit is issued with conditions referencing the relevant Australian Standard. For emergency escape lighting, that standard is AS 2293. Part 1 covers design and installation; Part 2 covers the ongoing inspection and maintenance program.

AS 2293.2 sets out a tiered testing schedule: there are monthly self-tests (often automated), a six-monthly functional test, and an annual full-duration discharge test. The six-monthly interval comes from that maintenance schedule, which your building permit has incorporated by reference. So the obligation is real and serious — it just does not sit in a single line of the Regulations the way the rumour implies.

Why does this distinction matter? Because if you think the rule is a blanket statutory one, you might assume it applies uniformly to every building in Victoria and that one generic answer covers all situations. It does not. The specific obligations for your premises live in your building permit and the conditions attached to it. A building surveyor, not just an electrician, is your first call if you are uncertain what your permit actually requires.

What the maintenance logbook is for

AS 2293.2 requires that every test — monthly, six-monthly, annual — be recorded in a logbook kept at the premises. The logbook is not optional paperwork. It is the evidence that the system is being maintained, and it is what a building inspector or fire safety assessor will ask to see.

Entries should include the date of the test, which luminaires were tested, whether they passed or failed, and the name and licence details of the person who carried out the work. If a luminaire fails, the fault needs to be remedied and retested — and that, too, goes in the logbook.

Building owners in areas like Preston and Thomastown often find that their older commercial tenancies have a logbook that has not been touched in years. That is a compliance gap, not a minor admin issue. If there is no record of testing, there is no evidence the system is maintained — and an inspector is entitled to treat it as if testing has never been done.

What the tests actually involve

The six-monthly functional test is straightforward in principle: the supply to the emergency luminaires is interrupted, and each fitting is checked to confirm it illuminates correctly and holds its charge for the required duration. But “straightforward in principle” does not mean it can be done by a facilities manager with a ladder.

The work must be carried out by a licensed electrician — someone on the Energy Safe Victoria register. ESV maintains the public register of licensed electrical contractors and workers; you can verify a licence at the ESV public register. Yiannis holds REC 28523.

The annual full-duration test is more demanding — luminaires must sustain output for their rated duration (typically 90 minutes for commercial premises), and any fitting that dims out or cuts early is a fail. A sparky doing this properly will work through the building systematically, test each circuit, and document results fitting by fitting, not just tick a box.

For commercial electrical clients, Thunderman carries out both the six-monthly and annual AS 2293 tests, records results in the logbook, and replaces or repairs any fittings that do not pass. There is no ambiguity about what the test covered, because everything is written down.

When a Certificate of Electrical Safety is needed

Not every maintenance inspection triggers a Certificate of Electrical Safety (CoES), but any remedial work — replacing a failed luminaire, rewiring a fitting, upgrading a driver — is electrical installation work, and that requires a CoES to be issued under Victorian law. ESV’s guidance on Certificates of Electrical Safety explains the obligation clearly.

This is another reason to use a licensed electrician for the testing, not just a general maintenance contractor. If faults are found during a test and the same person fixes them, they need the right licence to issue a CoES. A contractor who is not on the ESV register cannot issue one, which means the remedial work has no paperwork behind it — a problem if the building is ever audited.

The practical question: how do you know what your building actually requires?

If you are a building owner or facilities manager and you are not certain what your permit requires, here is a reasonable checklist:

• Locate your original building permit and the conditions attached to it. Emergency lighting requirements, if any, will be referenced there.
• Check whether a logbook was established when the system was installed. It should be kept at the premises, often near the main switchboard.
• Look at the last logbook entry — date, who carried out the work, and whether all luminaires passed.
• If there is no logbook, or the last entry is more than six months ago, treat it as overdue.

If you are a tenant rather than a building owner, the obligation to maintain the emergency lighting system sits with the building owner or landlord, not you. But if you are the one who would be accountable if something went wrong during a fire or evacuation, it is worth asking the question regardless of whose name is on the permit.

The part that often gets missed: older systems

Emergency lighting technology has moved on. Many commercial buildings in Melbourne’s inner north and industrial corridors are still running fluorescent emergency fittings with sealed lead-acid batteries that are fifteen or twenty years old. Those batteries degrade over time, and a fitting that passed a functional test three years ago may not sustain its rated duration today.

The annual full-duration test exists precisely to catch this. A fitting can appear to work — it illuminates when the supply is cut — but if it goes dark at the forty-minute mark during an evacuation that runs longer, it has failed at the moment it mattered. Older systems in particular deserve the full test, not just a quick function check.

If a system is genuinely at end of life, the conversation shifts from maintenance to replacement, which is a separate electrical services job — but one that also starts with accurate test results telling you what you actually have.

What to do next

Check your building permit conditions and your emergency lighting logbook. If you are not sure what your permit requires, a building surveyor is the right starting point for that question.

For the electrical side — carrying out the AS 2293 six-monthly and annual tests, recording results, and repairing or replacing any fittings that do not pass — that is work Thunderman does for commercial premises across Greater Melbourne.

If you’d rather a licensed sparky handle it, give Yiannis a call on 0434 254 474 or send a quick message for a free, no-obligation quote.

Sources

• Energy Safe Victoria — about Certificates of Electrical Safety ↗
• Energy Safe Victoria — public register of electrical licences ↗
• AS 2293.2 — Emergency escape lighting: Inspection and maintenance