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Commercial Electrical Inspection (PIR & PAT)

Commerical electrical inspection of fire alarm.Every year in the UK, there are about 1000 electrical accidents at work (www.hse.org.uk). These accidents kill about 25 people each year.

Injury and loss caused by fire can be costly and massively inconvenient. Our services help businesses to understand the risks and plan for business continuity in any worst-case scenario.

This level of testing may be assumed to be in place by Courts of Law, Health and Safety Auditors and Insurers.

Periodic Inspection Report (PIR)

PIR inspection case.This is a test on the condition of the electrical installation, wiring and accessories (switches and sockets).

A PIR is a bit like an MOT on a car. The electrical installation is tested against current safety standards. The report lists any faults, potential concerns, and matters in need of further investigation. The report also provides a timescale of urgency on which remedial action should be taken (although the test itself does not normally attempt any remedial work). This report then allows you to decide on, and budget for, remedial works or additional investigation.

Typically a PIR may be recommended every 1, 3, 5 or 10 years depending on age, use, condition of the building and the electrical installation within.

The cost of a PIR will depend on: the size of premises, number of circuits, condition of circuitry, presence and accuracy of circuit labelling, documentation of circuit amendments over time, ease of access for our engineers to visit and test (which will require us to isolate power to circuitry). For an accurate estimate we visit your premises and conduct a survey.

It may not surprise you to learn that most premises are likely to fall short of modern safety standards. Many electricians will use this fact to do a “Free” survey, confident in the knowledge that remedial work will then follow. We would rather do an independent test, and allow you to use our report to tender for remedial works, in order to assist you to keep costs down.

Portable Appliance Testing (PAT)

PAT portable appliance testing plug inspection.This is a test of electrical equipment to assess safety. It is a thorough test that takes time to complete correctly.

Our experience shows that in most organisations there are about 5% of appliances that are in need of remedial work or that are not safe to use. A regular programme of testing will identify and reduce this 5% significantly, therefore reducing the risk and costs of injury or fire.

The most common PAT testing interval is once every 12 months. Recommended intervals do vary, and will depend on design, location and use of each piece of equipment. Certain assumptions about the use of equipment are made to support the recommended intervals. We would be happy to explain these during any survey.

The cost of Appliance testing will depend on the time taken to test all appliances thoroughly (depending on ease of access, movement of furniture, correct storage and use of electrical equipment through the year), the number of appliances, the amount of remedial work we are required to undertake along the way, & the nature of your work premises (it’s harder to test a car mechanics garage than a car sales garage!)

For an accurate estimate we visit your premises to conduct a free, no obligation survey.

Please note in passing that the range of permutations on these variables means that “Price per item” quotes for Portable Appliance Testing can be misleading or worthless (assuming all testing work is completed as rigorously as is necessary!)