The battery backed emergency lighting requirements are not primarily so that the building can be evacuated, a fire and subsequent activation of the alarm will not turn off the electricity. Their purpose is rather to provide for some lighting so that the fire brigade can switch off the power supply to the building (along with the gas), this will give them a much safer environment to enter to carry out any searches or internal firefighting needed.
Any competent person can test the emergency lighting, but someone who would rather be doing anything else can not be considered competent. Even if they are, in larger installations and for the 3 hour discharge in particular, it is better if the electrician who will have to repair the inevitable failures carries out the test. Accurate communication of the failures from the competent to the qualified to repair is famously unreliable!
I did once get called to a premises because 30 plus of their 100 fittings had failed, the competent person had failed to mark or note which ones. The building manager was not impressed when I told her that I was going to have to repeat the test!
Any competent person can test the emergency lighting, but someone who would rather be doing anything else can not be considered competent. Even if they are, in larger installations and for the 3 hour discharge in particular, it is better if the electrician who will have to repair the inevitable failures carries out the test. Accurate communication of the failures from the competent to the qualified to repair is famously unreliable!
I did once get called to a premises because 30 plus of their 100 fittings had failed, the competent person had failed to mark or note which ones. The building manager was not impressed when I told her that I was going to have to repeat the test!
