Maintenance work can be a lucrative sideline for contractors, and it ensures the safety of your customers. Tom Lloyd asks how often you should do preventative maintenance:
The purpose of inspection and testing is to ensure the safety of an installation or appliance, but if it isn't done properly it can have the opposite effect.
In February this year the Health and Safety Executive successfully prosecuted a firm after the company's site electrician was seriously burned while testing a welding set. A damaged switch fuse didn't operate, and there was a short circuit and flashover. The company was fined £3,000 for breaching the Electricity at Work Regulations. The inspector on the case, Matthew Clay, says the accident could have been avoided.
"Had an inspect and test been carried out by a competent electrical contractor, the deterioration could have been identified, and the injury prevented," he says. "It is also very important that employers assess the suitability of their electrical test equipment."
Mike Clarke, technical manager at the National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting, makes the point that inspection and testing should be considered together:
"If you have exposed live parts, say a broken plug cap, you'll never find that by testing. But you'll see it... so inspection is always given an emphasis. Testing is a back up... in fact more faults are found by inspection than testing, and that's true for both fixed installations and portable appliances."
Clearly it is important that maintenance work, incorporating inspection and testing, is carried out on a regular basis, but how often is often enough to give peace of mind?
Legal terms:
Contractors are likely to get involved in two types of testing work: installation testing and appliance testing. The latter has traditionally been handled by in-house staff, but in recent years the dire state of the economy has driven many companies to farm out this kind of work to outside contractors.
"As companies start having to take a closer look at costs they will quite often reduce their own workforce," says Rod Taylor, managing director of portable appliance tester maker Seaward Electronic, "which means the opportunities for the contractor increase because the companies subcontract out that part of the work."
Appliance testing is governed by the Electricity at Work Regulations, which came into force in 1989 to implement the European Safety in the Workplace Directive in the UK.
The Electricity at Work Regulations state that equipment must be serviced and maintained to prevent danger, but stop short of explicitly stating that a preventative maintenance schedule is compulsory.
Taylor says there is an implied requirement to test "because how do you know the equipment has been maintained unless you carry out regular testing?" But he also notes that other European countries have not interpreted the directive in this way.
Installation testing is covered by the Institution of Electrical Engineers' guidelines. In its guidance note three on inspection and testing it sets out suggested periods for testing and inspection. It recommends that a domestic installation, for example, should be checked 10 years after being put into use.
In legal terms, however, the requirements for inspection and testing of appliances or installations are somewhat vague.
Corporate responsibility:
Companies are increasingly concerned about the safety of their electrical devices and networks. This is a symptom of a change in culture, which Taylor says was indicated by the HSE's willingness to prosecute a company that did not have an electrical maintenance schedule:
"When we first got involved in the Electricity at Work Regulations there was a tendency to be careful as far as the Health and Safety Executive were concerned. They were rather cautious about testing, whereas now they are taking a much clearer approach", he says.
Taylor also believes that companies are scared of being accused of corporate manslaughter, or of being sued by employees: "The willingness of the HSE to provide more clarity in their advice, and the comments you get from people like David Blunkett - who has been quite vociferous in his comments about corporate manslaughter - mean there is a general undercurrent of pressure to make sure that everyone is aware of their legal responsibilities for other peoples safety."
For the Health and Safety Executive, Clay says that a test regime that complies with BS7671 will usually meet the requirements of the Electricity at Work Regulations.
The HSE expects companies to have a maintenance policy based on the IEE guidelines, and to alter it in the light of the findings of its initial inspections – increasing the frequency of inspections if necessary.
Part P:
A significant amount of the uncertainty surrounding test schedules could be removed next year when Part P of the Building Regulations will include a reference to BS7671. The Building Regulations are legally binding, so the introduction of an electrical element will set concrete standards for all aspects of electrical work - including testing.
The regulation will only apply to new installation work, so it won't affect maintenance of existing installations, but it will have a major impact nonetheless.
"Part P is going to legally require people to comply with that part of the Building Regulations," says Clarke, "which really involves compliance with the British Standard - BS7671 – which requires inspection and testing, verification and then issuing a certificate... which is really a declaration of safety. So that's going to bring a large part of the unregulated side of the industry into line, if they are going to comply with the law, which will be a culture shock to many I suspect."
Electrical contractors will be able to certify that their own work complies with Part P, but only if they have been approved by a body that runs an accreditation scheme. A number of organisations including the NICEIC are setting up such schemes - the deadline to apply to run a scheme is the middle of this month. Once the schemes are up and running, contractors can begin the approval process.
The government is keen to get the changes to Part P implemented by summer 2004, so getting everyone through the schemes in time could become a logistical nightmare. And for test and measurement, there is another problem.
"It appears to the NICEIC that quite a high proportion of people coming forward for enrolment are not following the standard BS7671 inspection and testing requirements, and are not completing and issuing certificates," says Clarke. "They are not really inspecting and testing, they are just switching on and
Hoping for the best:
"A lot of contractors see inspection and testing - and certification – as bureaucracy, but it's not an option under the British Standard and it's as much there to protect you, the contractor, as it is to protect the user, because if something goes wrong you are going to be in a court of law trying to explain what you did to prevent it."
Get ahead:
Whatever happens with Part P, and however the Electricity at Work Regulations are interpreted, there are some good reasons to have a preventative maintenance schedule that includes inspection and testing. From the employer's point of view the threat of corporate manslaughter charges, and the growth of the "no win, no fee" litigation industry are strong incentives.
For contractors, and for in-house electrical service staff, ignoring regular tests puts your own life in danger. Good practice should ensure that you are one step ahead of the regulations, which only pose a threat to incompetent contractors.
This article was first published in Electrical Times magazine (October 2003 issue) and has been used courtesy of publisher and Voltimum UK partner Highbury Business Communications.
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