The Royal society for the Prevention of accidents statistics show that around 1,500 people per year require hospital treatment as a result of injury caused by electricity in the home.
In addition, 35 electrical fires occur in UK homes every day. Most of these could be avoided if homeowners had their properties checked.
It is recommended that domestic electrical installations should be checked at least every 10 years.
Other instances when a periodic inspection should be carried out, are when a property is being prepared to be let, prior to selling a property or when buying a previously occupied property.
Visual Inspection
The first is a formal, comprehensive visual inspection. This is the equivalent of the inspection process in a Periodic Inspection and Test report but doesn't include testing the installation. This includes a sample inspection of joints, terminations, lighting points and socket-outlets (at least 10% sampling). Any deterioration ,damage, and defects to conductors, outlets and switchgear are noted on the report. Earthing arrangements are determined and recorded. And protective devices (fuses) are visually checked to make sure that each circuit is adequately protected. Areas that don't comply with the current regulations (BS7671 as amended) will be noted on the report.
The Inspection part of the process is as above but also includes comprehensive testing of the installation which can help to determine damage to circuits not obvious from a visual inspection. Also, the correct operation of RCD's and the speed in which a circuit disconnects, in the event of a fault, can be assessed.
This option is the most popular choice, as it satisfies the Institute of Electrical Engineers recommendations, that a domestic installation should be checked at least every ten years and on change of ownership.
From the information collected a comprehensive report is then produced which will highlight any areas that need attention.