One dark fixture in a long hallway: the lighting walk

Common-area lighting fails quietly. One dead fixture in a long corridor still leaves the hallway 'lit' to a casual walk, but it leaves a dark stretch on the egress path — and interior lighting is also one of the affirmative requirements now deducting points since October 1, 2026 in Public Housing and Multifamily inspections. The useful routine is a dedicated lighting walk, at dusk or with corridor lights only, fixture by fixture, logged the same way every month so a pattern of repeat failures points at the circuit or the fixture, not the bulb. Pair it with the exit-sign and emergency-light test so one walk covers the whole egress story. How often does your building get a lights-only walk? — Otto Mergl, Admin