Why YOU need to test the electrical equipment in your office!

You have a legal obligation as an employer to safeguard both your staff members and anyone who visits your workplace. This blog will look at what the law says and how to comply with it.

As an employer, you have a legal responsibility to protect your employees’ health and safety. In the UK, this duty of care is set down in a law called the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Within that law are the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. These dictate every aspect of how electricity should be used in the workplace, including making sure electrical equipment is safe and fit for purpose.

The regulations not only give employers a legal duty of care, but place responsibility on employees, contractors and other similarly employed workers too.

The bare minimum required by the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations of 1999 is:

• Identify the potential risks to health or injury at your company.

• Take steps to eliminate the hazard or, if this is not possible, control the risk.

• Decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk).

How to Check the Safety of Electrical Office Equipment

The three best ways to check the safety of your office equipment and achieve compliance are:

- PAT Testing

- Fixed Wire Testing

- Thermographic Survey

Safety Certificates

In order to ensure compliance with the law, providing an electrical safety certificate—known as an electrical inspection certificate (EIC)—is likely to be a condition of your business insurance.

This details the installation work, inspections and testing you’ve carried out on the fixed electrical wiring in your building.

How to obtain an EIC Certificate

Make plans for a "periodic inspection" to be performed. This is similar to portable appliance testing (PAT), except instead of testing your portable appliances, a trained Protest ES Ltd electrician comes in to inspect and test your fixed wiring.

Every five years, you should have a periodic inspection, according to recommendations.

You will receive an electrical installation condition report (EICR) following the routine inspection. This will detail any flaws, damage, or issues that indicate you're not abiding by the applicable laws, rules, and standards.

To help ensure that you and your business are complying with all relevant electrical safety legislation, Protest ES Ltd are happy to meet with you at your business premises and give you some guidance and advice.

Please don't hesitate to get in touch with a member of our team, you can contact us here: 01604 696113 | enquiries@protestesltd.co.uk.