Interstate’s electrical and building management checklist for daylight saving time - by John Henry

Daylight Saving Time (DST) is the perfect opportunity for commercial building owners and managers to be proactive with their electrical and automated systems. As we spring forward an hour on March 8, a comprehensive review of your building’s systems ensures energy efficiency, system reliability, and tenant safety as we transition into the warmer months.

John Henry, an Interstate Electrical Services Corp. project manager, shares this essential checklist to prepare your facility:

1. Adjust and Sync All Time-Sensitive Controls. The primary task is updating every timer-driven system to reflect the one-hour jump. This starts with manual adjustments to mechanical time clocks for all interior and exterior lighting, including parking lots and security fixtures, while ensuring any temporary winter overrides are cancelled. For modern facilities, it is critical to perform a Building Management System (BMS) verification to confirm that lighting sweeps and HVAC occupancy schedules have successfully migrated to the new time. Finally, check and update the clocks on older fire alarm and card access systems to maintain accurate operational data and ensure all security logs are correctly timestamped.

2. Optimize Lighting and Climate Sensors for Spring. With sunset occurring an hour later, your building’s ‘brain’ needs a seasonal recalibration to avoid energy waste. Inspect all exterior photocells to ensure they aren’t activating too early in the evening and verify that occupancy sensors are functioning correctly to minimize usage in unoccupied zones. If your building uses daylight harvesting controls, confirm they are dimming interior lights appropriately as natural spring sunlight increases. This is also the time to transition your HVAC settings. Ensure your system is ready for cooling setpoints so that the building isn’t fighting itself by heating in the chilly mornings and cooling during the warmer afternoons.

3. Prioritize Safety and Compliance Reliability. The biannual time change serves as a vital reminder for life safety maintenance and regulatory compliance. Conduct full-load testing of emergency generators, UPS systems, and battery-backed emergency lighting to ensure they are ready for unpredictable spring storm outages. Additionally, replace the batteries in any standalone smoke detectors, carbon monoxide alarms, and thermostat backups throughout the facility. Finally, verify that your fire alarm control panel (FACP) reflects the correct time, as even a minor time-sync error can complicate troubleshooting and documentation during a fire marshal inspection.

4. Document and Clean for Efficiency. Maintaining a detailed log of all manual changes and sensor calibrations is critical for future troubleshooting, insurance compliance, and LEED reporting. Beyond digital updates, advise your maintenance staff to perform a spring cleaning of all exterior light lenses, reflectors, and sensors. Winter salt, grime, and debris can significantly reduce light output and sensor accuracy; a quick cleaning is a low-cost, high-impact step to ensure maximum visibility and efficiency as outdoor activity increases during the spring months.

Take the time now to proactively schedule these maintenance check-ins to prevent system failures, reduce energy waste, and secure the continued reliability of your essential building infrastructure throughout 2026.

John Henry is a project manager at Interstate Electrical Services Corp., Billerica, Mass.