A question which arises from time to time is whether it is necessary to carry out periodic inspections if a property is subjected to a regular, ongoing maintenance program. This article seeks to clarify the statutory and non-statutory requirements for inspection, testing and maintenance. It also attempts to clarify what constitutes an effective management system for preventative maintenance.
Statutory requirements
Regulation 4 (2) of the Electricity at Work regulations (EAWR) 1989 requires:
As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger.
When considering this statutory requirement it is necessary to look a little more closely at a few definitions within EAWR 1989 as these differ somewhat from those given in BS 7671:
System is defined as “an electrical system in which the all the electrical equipment is, or may be, electrically connected to a common source of electrical energy, and includes such source and such equipment”
Electrical equipment is defined as “anything used, intended to be used or installed for use, to generate, provide, transmit, transform, rectify, convert, conduct, distribute, control, store, measure, or use electrical energy”.
With reference to the above, it can be seen that Regulation 4 (2) is pretty much all encompassing in terms of the electrical equipment installed within a building.
EAWR 1989 applies to employers, employees, and the self-employed; and the activities carried out by them in a place of work (which will include instances of work on a domestic installation).
There are a number of legal requirements regarding maintenance which are applicable to rented domestic and residential accommodation. Within England and Wales for example, the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11 Repairing obligations in short leases sub-section (1)(b) requires the landlord to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the dwelling house for the supply of water, gas and electricity. A similar requirement appears in the Housing (Scotland) Act 2006, Section 13, sub-section (1)(c) (the repairing standard) and Section 14 (Landlords duty to repair and maintain).
In all three of the pieces of legislation mentioned above, the requirement is to MAINTAIN the installation with no specific requirement being made for periodic inspection and testing to be carried out.
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