An emergency lighting log is the record that the testing regime happened. Downloadable templates are widely available and most of them fail the same way a fire door template does: they record that testing took place without identifying what was tested, which makes the record unusable the moment somebody asks about a specific luminaire.
The schedule behind the log
Before any log is useful there has to be a schedule of every luminaire with a reference that exists on the fitting as well as on the paper, its location, its type, whether it is maintained or non maintained, and its rated duration. Without that, a monthly entry saying the emergency lighting was tested cannot be checked against anything. Creating the schedule is the first job in any building that does not have one.
What each entry records
The date. The type of test, function or duration. The result for each luminaire, not for the building. Any failure, what was done about it, by whom and when it was closed out. And the name of the person who carried out the test. A failure that appears in one month's entry and never reappears as a repair is the pattern an enforcing officer looks for.
The system record
Alongside the tests: the original design and completion certificate, any alterations to the building that changed the lighting, battery replacements, and the dates of any full duration tests including which sections were tested when the building was tested in parts. That last point matters, because a building tested in sections needs the log to show that every section was covered across the year.
Where it lives
With the fire log book alongside the alarm and extinguisher records, because that is the document set an enforcing officer asks for and the set an insurer asks for after a loss. An automatic test system that logs to a panel or to software still needs its output to be available in that form, not only on a screen somebody has the password for.
Questions people ask about emergency lighting log book pdf
Is a log book legally required?
The record is not named in law. The maintenance duty is, and the log is the ordinary way of evidencing it. A building with no record cannot show the duty was met.
How long should the log be kept?
Long enough to show a continuous history, which means years. The superseded pages are part of the evidence rather than clutter.
Does an automatic system remove the need for a log?
No. It generates the log and somebody still has to review it, act on failures and keep the output where it can be produced.