Emergency lighting (Germany)
A list of checks and obligations with their cadence, ready to add to your agenda.
For German employers and building operators with emergency lighting and illuminated escape-route signs. Covers the monthly short test, the annual test over the full rated duration, the German fifteen-second requirement on escape routes, the daily watch over the central unit indicators, the logbook and battery replacement. Photometric design of the installation, the requirements of individual special building regulations and emergency lighting on temporary sites are out of scope.
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Ask what is in the manuals, how often the maintenance is due and what it takes to do it.
What it already has at hand
- No manual on this page
- 7 planned checks, the most frequent every month since the last inspection
Planned checks
Informative summary verified on 12/09/2026. It does not replace legal advice: the regulation cited prevails. If you spot an error, report it.
Some checks are only mandatory in certain countries: pick yours and the list follows.
In Italy this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In France this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
- 01
Review where emergency lighting is required
Where emergency lighting is compulsory and how far it must reach is not judged by eye: it follows from the employer risk assessment, from the German technical rule and, for many buildings, from the building permit or the applicable special building regulation. This card gives no thresholds or floor areas: read them in the current version of the technical rule. The review is repeated after every change of layout, every new department and every change to the escape routes, because that is where uncovered stretches appear.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsLegal obligationArbStättV Anhang Nr. 3.4 i.V.m. ASR A3.4/3Germany only - 02
Test the full rated duration once a year
Once a year the installation is tested over its full rated duration — at least one hour under the European standard, three hours where the design requires it — to see whether the batteries really last to the end. The test is started outside operating hours, because during it the building has no reserve, and the batteries need time to recharge afterwards. The operator or a specialist company runs it; the result, naming the luminaires that failed early, goes on paper.
every 12 months since the last inspectionLegal obligationDIN EN 50172 i.V.m. DIN EN 1838Germany onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 03
Verify the 15-second requirement on escape routes
In Germany escape routes must reach full emergency illumination within fifteen seconds of a mains failure: the German technical rule is stricter than the European standard alone, which accepts fifty per cent in five seconds and one hundred per cent in sixty. This is a design requirement, not maintenance: it must be verified when the system is designed, when the central unit or a group of luminaires is replaced, and whenever the escape route changes. A qualified electrician verifies it; the measured value belongs in the system documentation.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsLegal obligationASR A3.4/3Germany onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 04
Replace batteries as the manufacturer specifies
The batteries of the central unit and of self-contained luminaires have a limited life and no German law sets a replacement interval: the manufacturer instructions for the central unit and for each luminaire govern. The practical signal comes from the annual duration test: if a group of luminaires goes dark early, those batteries are at end of life even if the calendar says otherwise. A qualified electrician replaces them, and the date belongs in the logbook so there is a reference next time.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsRecommendedGermany only - 05
Run the short function test every month
Once a month a mains failure is simulated for about a minute and every safety luminaire and escape-route sign is checked to see that it lights. The duty lies with the employer or building operator; instructed staff may run the test, while work on the installation stays with a qualified electrician. Systems with automatic testing run it themselves, but the result must still be read and recorded: an automatic test nobody looks at proves nothing.
every month since the last inspectionLegal obligationDIN EN 50172 (DIN VDE V 0108-100)Germany onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 06
Check the central unit indicators each working day
Every working day someone must look at the indicators on the central unit or the supply panels and notice whether a fault is signalled: a thirty-second internal routine, not a technical intervention. Whoever does it is an appointee of the operator — the caretaker, the department head, whoever opens the building — and the only thing they need to recognise is the difference between the operating lamp and the fault lamp. Faults are passed to the qualified electrician or the maintenance company, not fixed on the spot.
continuous check, confirm every 1 monthsCompany ruleDIN EN 50172 (DIN VDE V 0108-100)Germany only - 07
Keep the emergency lighting logbook
All tests — monthly, annual, extraordinary after a change — go into a single log with date, result, defects found and action taken. It is the organisational duty that holds the rest together: without the log, a test done and a test forgotten look the same. The log may be on paper or an export from the automatic test system, as long as it stays available to whoever inspects and also records the luminaires that were replaced.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsCompany ruleDIN EN 50172 (DIN VDE V 0108-100)Germany only
In Switzerland this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Austria this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In United Kingdom this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Spain this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Portugal this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In United States this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Other country this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
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