Emergency lighting — periodic checks (Italy)
A list of checks and obligations with their cadence, ready to add to your agenda.
Italian kit for employers, operators and building managers running an emergency and safety lighting installation. It covers the three checks of UNI CEI 11222 — six-monthly functional test, annual general check and annual duration test — together with the inventory of the luminaires, battery replacement according to the manufacturer, the recording of results and end-of-life disposal of luminaires and accumulators. It is for anyone who must show that escape routes stay lit when mains power fails.
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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 6 months 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.
- 01
Run the functional test every six months
The functional test simulates a mains failure and checks that each unit switches to emergency, lights up and returns to charging: it is the short test, not the duration one. The interval is six-monthly, unless stricter rules apply: the monthly interval that circulates in much industry content is not supported by the standard. The employer or the person in charge arranges it and competent technical staff run it, in-house too where suitably trained.
every 6 months since the last inspectionLegal obligationUNI CEI 11222:2013 (verifica di funzionamento); UNI EN 1838Italy onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 02
Take an inventory of the emergency lighting units
A check is worth no more than the list it rests on: without an inventory of the units — position, type (self-contained or central battery), declared duration, installation date — nobody can say whether the six-monthly check covered them all or only the ones in the main corridor. The person in charge of the activity draws up the list and updates it whenever the installation changes. It is an internal task, but it is what makes the three checks below provable.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsCompany ruleUNI CEI 11222:2013Italy only - 03
Carry out the general check of the system every year
The general check looks at the installation as a whole rather than at the individual unit: overall efficiency, integrity and cleanliness of the luminaires, correspondence between installed units and the design, condition of the illuminated escape signage. It falls due every year. The person in charge commissions it; a competent technician carries it out and writes down the faults and the corrective actions — the document that evidences maintenance if an inspection comes.
every 12 months since the last inspectionLegal obligationUNI CEI 11222:2013 (verifica generale); UNI EN 1838Italy onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 04
Replace batteries as the manufacturer requires
The accumulators in self-contained units age even without any mains failure and lose duration gradually. Their life is not fixed by a standard: the manufacturer declares it on the individual unit, and the annual duration test is what tells you it has arrived. The person in charge schedules replacement of the accumulators that fail the test or have passed their declared service life, entrusting the work to competent technical staff.
continuous check, confirm every 12 monthsRecommendedIstruzioni del fabbricante; UNI CEI 11222:2013Italy only - 05
Run the battery duration test every year
The duration test keeps the units in emergency mode for their full declared time — one hour in most installations — and checks that the batteries really hold it: it is the only test that catches exhausted accumulators, which still light up during the short one. It falls due every year. It should be scheduled outside working hours, because afterwards the units stay flat until they recharge. A competent technician runs it for the person in charge.
every 12 months since the last inspectionLegal obligationUNI CEI 11222:2013 (verifica dell'autonomia); UNI EN 1838Italy onlySourceverified on 12/09/2026 - 06
Dispose of replaced luminaires and accumulators
The event that triggers this control is the replacement of a unit or of an accumulator. Spent accumulators are hazardous waste and must be collected separately through the dedicated take-back schemes; withdrawn luminaires are electrical and electronic equipment and follow that route, either taken back by the distributor when an equivalent unit is bought or handed to an authorised operator. Whoever holds the installation sees to it, not the installer fitting the new parts.
continuous checkLegal obligationD.Lgs. 188/2008; D.Lgs. 49/2014Italy only - 07
Record the test results and the faults put right
Every check — six-monthly, general, duration — must be recorded with date, outcome, non-compliant units and corrective actions: in the fire-safety control register where the activity keeps one, otherwise on a dedicated sheet filed with the installation documents. Keeping the record is the employer's or operator's duty, even when the checks are contracted out. An installation checked but not recorded counts, before an inspector, as not checked.
continuous check, confirm every 6 monthsLegal obligationD.M. 1 settembre 2021, Allegato I; UNI CEI 11222:2013Italy only
In France this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
In Germany this product has no planned checks: the ones listed apply to other countries.
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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