Manchester landlords and land owners should make regular safety inspections of their electrical systems in order to keep safe.
The Electrical Safety Inspection aims to do this by preventing dangerous situations like fires, electrical shocks, burns and other accidents from occurring.
These are often caused by improperly functioning electrical systems and its devices.
The reports that need to be prepared and sent will ensure the electrical appliances, wires and cables which are used by the inhabitants of the property are safe.
In England, the law requires residents to check their electrical installation safety every five years.
For properties available to rent, this check is done every three years.
However, the reports that must be made and sent are prepared only by authorized persons.
To have a property with electrical systems functioning according to the law and all legal regulations it must have all the necessary certificates and reports sent in the expected time.
And to be consistent with the Building Regulations in the United Kingdom, everybody needs a Domestic Installation Certificate for every new electrical installation in their estate.
The Domestic Minor Works Certificates are necessary for smaller electrical installations.
They are required for changes in the lightning system or changes in the wiring installation of other electrical devices.
The Portable Appliance Testing, also known as PAT Testing, are regular tests which check the safety and proper functioning of all electrical appliances.
They are done separately for each appliance and these tests are the responsibility of every employer.
The Periodic Inspection Report, also called Electrical Installation Condition Report, is a thorough and full examination of the whole electrical system, cables, wires and electrical devices.
Home Mates safety testing shows if the system has been overburdened, suffers any problems with grounding and the interconnecting between the wires and electrical appliances.
This report will also reveal any problems and incompatibilities in the electrical system and it is vital that both estate owners and lessors do this.
The possessors of properties, in which they live, should do this report at least once every ten years, while landlords are obliged to import it every five years or with every changing of the tenants.
The Electrical Installation Condition Report is not mandatory but it can prove that the law is followed and the safety is ensured by the owner in case of mishaps.
In Manchester it is recommended the landlords and land owners make regular safety inspections of their electrical system every ten years for home installations, five years for commercial installations, three years for caravans and every year for swimming pools.
Tests and reports should be made and presented when an estate will be given for rent, before giving a property for sale and before purchasing an estate.
The DIY installations and devices should also be checked to make sure they are functioning well and respond to the law safety regulations to prevent potentially dangerous situations and law breaking.
The report demands that every observation should have a recommendation code.
These codes are very important as for example code one shows that a danger exists and needs immediate actions and code two shows that there is a potential danger and actions should be taken as soon as possible.
Observations having codes one or two don’t receive satisfactory assessment while code three is given when the inspector could not make a conclusion about the situation of the checked property.
Code four shows that the consumer of the installation are not in any kind of danger.
There are engineers, who are doing the inspection of the properties in Manchester as in any other town.
There are also many contractors who do the inspection and the reports.
The inspection and testing should be done by people with the necessary knowledge, experience, qualification and skills.
There are enough individuals and organizations in Manchester doing the job and there are also institutions that can provide professional assistance.
The people doing the checking come equipped with the necessary tools and write the results in a copy of the original report before in the report itself.
They do preliminary inspection before the actual inspection and all the tasks should be done very professionally.
Before the work is started the places is made safe for the inspector and the estate.
The electrical safety inspection in Manchester is done in a similar way as in other English cities.
Image via US Army Corps, with thanks
