Updated November 13, 2026 · No Shorts Electric
The monthly and annual tests NFPA 101 and the New York State Fire Code expect, what records to keep, how self-testing fixtures change the work, and what fails inspection most often.
Emergency lights and exit signs are the one part of a building’s electrical system that only has to work when everything else has stopped. Both NFPA 101, the Life Safety Code, and the New York State Fire Code require them to be tested on a schedule and the results written down. Most buildings that fail a fire inspection on this point did not have a fixture problem; they had a record problem.
The two tests
- Monthly: a functional test of at least 30 seconds on every battery-backed fixture, confirming it switches to battery and lights.
- Annually: a discharge test of 90 minutes, confirming the battery sustains the fixture for the full duration the code assumes an evacuation needs.
- Both tests are recorded by fixture, with the date, the result and who performed it.
Record keeping
Keep a log that lists every emergency light and exit sign by location, with a row for each monthly and annual test. The New York State Fire Code, in the section covering maintenance of the means of egress, requires that these records be kept and made available to the fire code official. A simple spreadsheet or a maintenance contractor’s report both satisfy this; a verbal assurance does not.
Self-testing fixtures
Self-testing and self-diagnostic fixtures run the monthly and annual tests automatically and indicate a failure with a light or a code. They remove most of the labor but not the obligation: failures still have to be noticed, corrected and recorded. Many buildings replace fixtures with self-testing units at the annual test when a battery fails.
What fails inspection
- No log, or a log with gaps.
- Batteries that pass the 30-second test and fail the 90-minute test.
- Exit signs with a dead lamp on one face.
- Fixtures added or moved without being added to the inventory.
- Emergency lights aimed at a wall or blocked by storage.
What we do about it
- Emergency and exit lighting testing →
Monthly and annual emergency lighting tests, exit sign repair and replacement, battery and fixture service, and written records for the fire marshal, for commercial buildings in Nassau and Suffolk.