Commercial EICR – some important facts you must know 

When you run a commercial space – say an office, a shop or a warehouse, you have to ensure the electrical circuits and installations present there are safe to use. An EICR is certainly one of the best ways to ensure that. EICR is the shortened form of Electrical Installation Condition Report. Usually old, overused worn out and faulty electrical installations often lead to electric shocks as well as fires. When a commercial premise in the UK is concerned and EICR or Electrical Installation Condition Report tests the installations, which in other words means the malfunctioning circuits get replaced or repaired and your property or premise becomes complaint with the latest health and safety regulations.  

Commercial landlords and electrical certificates

When residential landlords are concerned, EICR inspections are a legal requirement for them. But that is not the case with commercial landlords in the UK. Although EICR inspections are not any legal requirement for commercial landlords but an electrical certificate clearly demonstrates the electrical installations in a property or building is safe as well as compliant with relevant regulations like the Health and Safety at Work Act explains a qualified electrician in London dealing with commercial EICR. 

Frequency of EICR for commercial premises

There is no fixed time scale to carry out an EICR in commercial buildings, in most cases it depends on the type of commercial premises. Some commercial premises or properties need to have an EICR done more often than others. Usually commercial spaces like shops and offices need an EICR every 5 years whereas factories need an EICR more often. The timescale related to EICRs is not set in stone and rather engineers conducting the test specify a frequency for a retest only after carrying out an inspection. In case the electrical installations are too old then the test is recommended more often.

Importance of an EICR for commercial buildings

In commercial buildings fire usually spreads very fast and this is true for any factory or a manufacturing facility. There are reasons for it which include the following –  

• Factories are no doubt a dusty place usually. The dust floats into sockets and vents to cause overheating of electrical installations and equipments.
• Manufacturing processes that are usually carried out in factories make use of chemicals and gases that are highly inflammable.
• Paper, wood and various other flammable items or products that are usually present inside factories increase the risk of fire to a large extent.
• Electrical installations and equipments inside a manufacturing unit are highly prone to undergo wear and tear and are also more likely to be on for longer hours every day. This contributes to the chances of rapid progress of fire inside such facilities.

In the eyes of law the business owner is responsible to keep the commercial premise safe and there is no second opinion about it. This fact is further bolstered by various legislations that were introduced from time to time including The Electricity Work Regulations 1989 and The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. If someone gets hurt or injured then the business owner is held liable. In case of breakout of a fire if the owner cannot demonstrate evidence that all the necessary measures were taken to ensure safety of the commercial premise, the insurance company is more likely to refuse to make compensatory pay out.

An EICR certificate for a commercial property is best possible way to ensure the property remains safe from fire hazards and electrocutions while staying compliant with the relevant health and safety regulations and standards.

Elements that need to be checked in carrying out a commercial electrical testing

While carrying out a commercial EICR a specially trained electrical engineer who carries out the inspection tests the electrical installations in the building. An electrical installation typically consists of the following elements –

• Cabling
• The consumer unit (which is also often referred to as the CU, the fuse box or distribution board)  
• Accessories that include light fittings, switches and sockets

Commercial electrical testing helps identifying any faulty part of an electrical installation. Once the existing faults are identified and listed, remedial work can be organised to fix those issues before those issues snowball to major problems and cause massive disruptions. 

Cost of commercial EICR

The cost of commercial EICR is calculated based on a number of factors. Therefore the cost is never the same or uniform and varies widely from case to case. The factors that affect the cost include the following –

• The size of a property or building where the EICR is to be carried out
• The number of circuits included in the test
• The level of ease involved in accessing those electrical circuits 
• The size of the electrical circuit board involved and the complexity involved with it

These days many electrical contractors offer thermal imaging and if you want to use this technology in carrying out EICR for your commercial premise, in that case you have to pay a higher price. At reliable electrician services companies there is no hidden cost in EICR certificate for a commercial property. This is why you should always hire a trusted electrician services company to get the inspection done in your property.

Benefits for businesses in getting commercial EICRs done

For any commercial establishment in the UK an EICR proves beneficial in ways more than one. Some of the benefits include the following – 

• Ensures safety and legal compliance – As per the IET Wiring Regulations Seventeenth Edition (BS 7671) Fixed Wire Testing is a legal requirement. Moreover the Health and Safety Executive or HSE enforces The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
• In the long run EICRs carried out at routine intervals saves money for the owner of a property or business. The test makes a property more energy efficient, excludes the needs of costly electrical repairs and replacements and also boosts production efficiency of any commercial utility.
• EICRs carried out at routine intervals keeps everyone using the facility safe from electrical hazards like shocks and fires. 
• An EICR carried out at periodic intervals also validates the insurance prerequisites of a business. 

Highly trained and qualified electrical tradesmen working at the renowned Commercial Electrician London point out periodic EICR inspections also help reducing your carbon footprint to a large extent.