Does my Business Need an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)?

12 Dec Does my Business Need an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)?

Running a business is far from an easy task. Alongside the day to day running and management of your business, there’s the added pressure of maintaining the buildings that house that business. Your task is to maintain those buildings with as much care and thought as you maintain the relationships with your customers.

However, the world of commercial property maintenance is somewhat more opaque than it could be, and is riddled with requirements that you might not fully understand. One such requirement is the Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR), but what is it, what are the types of EICR and is it required by law?

What is an Electrical Installation Condition Report?

EICR’s, as they’re most commonly referred, are reports into the state of your electrical installations. The aims of a condition report are many, but in general they all aim to do the following:

• Ensure that your electric installation is safe to be used until the next inspection.
• Find any damage, wear and tear or defects that might affect the safety of your business.
• Help find anything that might cause electric shocks and high temperatures.
• Find any parts of your wiring installation that do not meet the IEE Wiring Regulations and report on them.

With these checked, a report will be generated and presented to you directly. The length of time it takes for one of these reports to be written will vary highly, based on how large your building is. A large building with a number of floors could take upwards of a week, whilst a single unit may take a few hours only.

What are the types of report?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of condition report, they are:

• Visual condition report: A shorter, less comprehensive and cheaper report which does not include testing and is only suitable if your system has been tested recently.
• Periodic inspection reports: The more typical, full report which includes all the testing found above.

Is an Electrical Installation Condition Report required by law?

Yes, it is. Businesses must have regular EICR’s issued, under UK laws. It is recommended that businesses have a full Electrical Installation Condition Report commissioned every five years, failure to do so would find you on the wrong side of the law.

Who can write an EICR?

All EICR’s have to be completed by fully trained, accredited electricians.