Quality assurance testing of street lighting equipment and systems is a major technical issue of a global scale. This paper presents the results of a study into the viability and usefulness of using infra-red thermography imaging as a method for the quality assurance testing of discharge lamps of the type used in street lighting systems. The results of this investigation form the basis for the development of a simple quality assurance test for discharge lamps. Such a system could be used by manufacturers of lamps in manufacturing process quality validation and by users of lamps in performance assessment measurements prior to installation and during the operating life of lamps. It is possible that the technique could be developed into a general international standard for the quality validation of not only discharge lamps, but also other lamp types.