subject: Periodic Electrical Inspection [print this page] All electrical installations carried out now days must be done so in line with British Standards 7671 - 2008. All electrical installs will, usually, have been performed to the requirements for electrical installs that were active at the time of installation.
In order to prove that all existing electrical installations are safe frequent testing and inspection should be carried out. The UK's Electricity at Work Regulations of nineteen eighty nine' which became live in the early nineteen nineties and the earlier Safety at Work act of nineteen seventy four made it law that every business must be safe for use by their employees, it's customers and the general public.
Government reports show that an average of 10 people are fatally injured and approximately seven hundred and fifty others are caused serious injury by unsafe electrical installations whether in the home or place of work.
Non-safe electrical installations are the source of a very many fires, and although fatalities are thank fully an usual happening they do still happen and fire damage to real estate, factory machinery, office equipment and also personal property can be a great inconvenience and highly disruptive to businesses.
To reduce the risks of such accidents happening routine checks are essential, and as there can be years between formal inspections it is an advisable precaution to occasionally look for examples of excessive wear, breakages, missing parts, loose fitting or signs of overheating in electrical equipment and switch gear. So small operations as pressing the test button on RCD (residual current devices) on from time to time can become be a lifesaving operation. Thankfully regular checks aren't neccessary to be carried out by a qualified electrician, as long as they are familiar in the use of the install and so is able to assess any defects that could have become visible.
Insurance co's are now quite likely to want to know that the right precautions are taken for the protection and maintenance of the policy owners building. It is now commonplace for insurers to have clauses specific pertaining to the electrical install and can demand evidence that a current report certificate is in force throughout the life of the policy. Failure to do so can be interpretted as negligence on the policy holders behalf and so subsequently invalidate the policy.
The time between inspection is different dependant on the type of install and it's use and operation. For general industrial installations the allowable period between testing and inspection is five years, there are exceptions however and you'll need to check for your exact premises, some public buildings for example leisure centres and theatres have a maximum period of three years and for cinemas this can be between one and three years. Routine inspections are usually a annual event, with educational buildings subject to routine inspections each four months. Domestic installations are subject to a maximum 10 year gap between inspections, or of course on change of ownership. Specialist installations can vary enormously in their maximum period between inspection, some where between 3 months and 6 years, there are far too many kinds of special installs to list here.
