A building’s electrical installations and circuit accessories wear down over time. Think of an old cassette tape and how many plays that had before the sound became distorted. That tape would have started wearing down before it could be heard. A building’s wiring starts to wear down before a problem occurs. To ensure that all the wirings are in order, an Electrical Installation Condition Report is essential. False confidence in a building’s electrical installations is a lot more dangerous than ignoring the first hints that a cassette tape has been played too many times. It costs lives and property. It is also illegal.
Fixed Wire Testing
Landlords have a legal responsibility to ensure the building’s electrics are safe. The building’s usage and how exposed it is will determine the frequency of testing. For most buildings, this is every five years.
The Commercial Electrical Installation Condition Report tests 20 per cent of a building’s wiring and circuit accessories each year. This is simpler and cheaper than testing a building’s entire electrical installation every five years. It becomes a yearly habit, so the landlord never forgets.
Visual Identification
A trained electrician like those at Milestone, for example, with years of experience can identify some faults visually, but there are many electrical faults that can’t be seen.
You can hear the sound quality fading in your favourite cassette tape, but you can’t see the individual dents that lead to it wearing down. A trained electrician will notice frayed wires and damaged sockets before someone else like a music technician will notice the sound breaking down in a cassette tape before anyone else.
Before the Damage Can Be Seen
No one can see through walls. The EICR alerts the electrician to any damage before even the electrician can see it. Any and every fault are identified and repaired before they cause property damage, injury or death.
The Codes
Faults discovered are assigned codes that express the urgency of repairs needed. Any C1, C2 and F1 faults require immediate attention. Failure to take the installation out of usage until it is repaired is illegal.
C3 faults should be fixed right away. As a landlord, you can still be held liable if something happened when you knew something should have been repaired.
C2 means an electrical feature is potentially dangerous. C3 means an electrical feature requires improvement or a non-regulatory fault has been discovered. F1 means further investigation is needed.
Remedial Works
Some faults can be repaired on the day they are discovered. Electrical faults aren’t old cassette tapes, and failure makes the repairs costs lives.
Appliance Testing
PAT testing is another legal requirement in commercial building for the Electrical Safety at Work Act. PAT testing is for the portable appliances. Even the radio in the break room requires testing. Anyone can notice a frayed wire, but most employees aren’t going to use their break time to take apart the plug and tighten fuses and connections. PAT tested appliances will have a green pass sticker or red fail sticker.
Being compliant with electrical safety saves lives and property.
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