Whether you are a business employing staff, a private residential landlord, or a commercial landlord in the UK, staying on top of the latest regulations regarding electrical safety certificate checks is crucial to ensuring your property remains legally compliant.
An EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) sometimes known as fixed wire testing is a formal document produced after a qualified engineer inspects the electrical installation in a property. It records the safety and condition of the wiring, consumer unit, distribution boards, sockets, and switches, and confirms whether the installation meets the current safety standards.
An EICR inspection covers the condition of circuits, the adequacy of earthing and bonding, and identifies any damage, wear, defects, or dangerous conditions that could cause an electric shock or fire.
It is important to understand the EICR meaning clearly, as inspection outcomes will directly impact what a landlord or business owner must do next. Following inspection, any electrical defects that are identified are categorised based on severity of risk and are recorded within the EICR. Findings are classified as C1 (danger present), C2 (potentially dangerous), C3 (improvement recommended), or FI (further investigation required). Landlords and business owners may then need to take action to repair these defects to stay compliant. Failure to do so can carry severe penalties.
Once an EICR assessment has taken place, the landlord/business owner will receive a copy of the EICR report. The report will advise if the inspection was ‘satisfactory’ or ‘unsatisfactory’.
Here's some more information on the classification codes:
Danger present, immediate remedial action required. This is the most serious category. Repairs or replacements must made safe immediately and reported to the site contact.
Potentially dangerous, urgent remedial work required. Further Inspection (FI) Further investigation required.
This code indicates that improving your electrical installation is advised. For instance, wiring that doesn't adhere to the most recent regulations, but that isn't necessarily dangerous. To be clear, there is no danger and no likely circumstance that may result in someone gaining access to live wires. So, even if C3 issues are identified, EICR certificates may still be valid.
Once all required repairs have been carried out to C1, C2 and FI defects, and all supporting documentation has been carried out to provide a detailed audit trail that the defects have been completed, the installation is classified as satisfactory. An EICR certificate will be issued by the electrician, along with a recommendation about how long the EICR is valid for.
The British Standards Institute sets the standard for electrical installations (BS 7671) and an EICR assessment is measured against these standards to show that your electrical installation complies with BS 7671.
Faults are classified by severity, and the report specifies the remedial action required. Where C1 or C2 issues are found, phs Compliance can carry out remedial works and issue a satisfactory follow-up report once the work is complete.
EICR inspections can be known by various different names, including hard wire testing, periodic inspection and electrical safety certificate.
Nope. If an electrical installation safety report does not satisfactorily satisfy your expectations, you must make all necessary remedial work and further investigation. You will have written confirmation (Electrical installations certificate / Minor works certificate) from the electrician to complete the work to confirm that the required works have been completed.
Any qualified or competent person with the required experience and industry recognised qualifications can carry our an EICR.
For privately rented residential property, an EICR is legally mandated under the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) Regulations 2020. They form part of a landlord’s legal obligation to ensure that a property is fit for human habitation and must be provided to residential tenants, at the start and throughout their tenancy. They must be carried out at least every five years and provide the report when required.
For commercial premises, the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 place a duty on businesses to maintain electrical systems in a safe condition, and a periodic EICR is the standard, industry-recognised way of demonstrating that duty has been met.
For businesses and commercial landlords, particularly businesses who lease their premises through a commercial landlord, knowing who is responsible for EICR on commercial property is an important yet often confusing topic.
For commercial landlords (e.g. of shops, offices or warehousing) an EICR for the leasing of commercial buildings is not a legal requirement. However, commercial landlords must comply with other legal regulations regarding electrical safety standards, namely the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.
In addition, the 1957 and 1984 Occupiers’ Liability Act make clear that a landlord’s duty of care goes beyond their obligation to the tenant and extends to anybody who visits their property, for instance office workers or shop customers.
For businesses, EICRs are not an explicit legal obligation and businesses cannot be fined for not having a valid EICR. However, they can be fined for negligence regarding electrical safety through other legislation, i.e. the Electrical Work Regulations of 1989. This requires that fixed wire testing is carried out to ensure the provision of a safe workplace for employees. In addition, the Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) also outlines businesses’ responsibility to provide a safe working environment for their employees.
In any case, if you are a residential or commercial landlord, or operate a business, having an EICR provides concrete evidence that your building is 100% legally compliant in respect of the safety of its electrical installation, and that as a landlord or employer, you maintain the highest safety standards.
If you're buying a residential property to live in, then requesting an EICR is the best way to find out if work needs to be carried out on the electrical system. Whilst there is no legal requirement to have an EICR carried out in this situation, it provides peace of mind that a home is electrically safe.
By law across England, Scotland and Wales, residential landlords must ensure an EICR assessment is carried out by a qualified and competent electrician at least every five years.
For commercial landlords and business, how often you should carry out an assessment and renewal of your EICR depends on your type of property as some environments may carry higher risks than others. Following completion of the EICR, your electrician will specify the maximum length of time that you should wait until your next inspection. However, as a ‘reasonable’ estimate, a standard commercial office should be every five years, whilst an industrial premises should be every 3 years.
Special locations such as hospitals or a construction site should be more frequent. If you would like more advice on how frequent your property should be tested, get in touch with us today.
Electrical installation conditions reports vary in price based on the property's size and room numbers. Depending upon their size it can also depend upon how many fixed electrical installations must be tested. The best way is to get quotes for an exact idea of how much your property's EICR might cost.
No, an electrical installation certificate is produced when a new installation has been completed, a distribution board has been replaced or when a new circuit has been installed.
It is important for the inspectors to see your installation as it is usually set up and used, so no changes should be made before the test.
However, there are things you can do to help make the testing process go quickly and smoothly. For example:
We are the UK’s largest and most experienced provider of EICR inspections, certifications, and electrical safety testing. We work across all sectors including education, retail and manufacturing
Our have a large fully qualified and accredited nationwide team of highly experienced engineers, so we will always have an expert local to you, no matter where you are in the UK.
We pride ourselves on carrying out our service with minimal or no interruption to your business, employees, or customers, which is why we can offer out of hours services, including evenings and weekends.
If you require more guidance on EICR meaning for your business, or to learn more about our what phs Compliance offers, to get a quote, or simply to ask a query, contact us today.
Fixed wire testing is the practical inspection and testing work carried out on the electrical installation. The EICR is the certificate and report produced as a result of that testing.
An EICR covers the fixed electrical installation. PAT testing covers portable appliances, essentially anything with a plug. PAT testing is also known more recently as EET testing which can cover more permanent less portable appliances, however EICR and PAT/EET testing are different forms of electrical compliance testing.
An EICR reports the condition of an electrical installation, whereas a thermographic survey highlights overheating components and unseen faults. Combined, they help reduce the risk of electrical failures and business disruption.
Typically 5 years for commercial premises, though high-risk environments may need more frequent inspection. The report itself specifies the recommended next inspection date.
phs Compliance began working with Westminster Abbey in 2015, delivering electrical fixed wire, portable appliance and emergency lighting inspection and testing services across Westminster Abbey’s
phs Compliance began working with our 'Big Four' food and grocery retail customer in 2009, delivering fixed wire and portable appliance inspection and testing services across one hundred per cent of
phs Compliance began working with our client in 2015, delivering electrical fixed wire inspection and testing services across one hundred per cent of the hospital estate. Completed in 2010 at a cost
phs Compliance began working with custodial & justice clients of our Tier 1 facilities management provider in 2017 delivering internal & external LED lighting replacement works, electrical power
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