This morning, we had some serious weather pass through the Cincinnati area, and many areas lost power. Ironically, I was conversing with a client in MI about emergency lighting inspections when the power at the facility where I am this week went out. Of course, this facility’s emergency lighting activated and worked properly, so employees could make their way to our severe-weather shelter (Tornado Sirens were going off). So this spurred me to write this post, as my friend in MI (a damn fine safety professional) had been told by his “Authority Having Jurisdiction” (AHJ, which was his local Fire Marshal) that he was not meeting code when it came to his monthly and annual inspections of his emergency lighting. Almost every workplace will need “Emergency Lighting”. This lighting is intended SOLELY for illuminating an egress path so that employees, contractors, and visitors can safely find their way out of the building (or to a Shelter-in-Place safe haven). In a separate article, I will discuss the “EXIT” sign lighting requirements, which are entirely different than this “Emergency [egress] Lighting”. OSHA addresses this requirement in 1910.37, Maintenance, safeguards, and operational features for exit routes, and the International Fire Code, the fire code most states adopt, has very specific requirements for lighting, monthly testing, and annual testing. First, let’s look at OSHA’s baseline requirements: