Electrical testing: The commercial property owner’s guide

If you’re the owner of one or several commercial properties and intend to rent them out or use them for your own business, it’s vital you’re up to date on routine testing of your electrical wiring. Mandatory under present health and safety regulations, fixed wire electrical testing is a simple and straightforward legal requirement that you can usually fit around your own schedule as suits you best.

You’re required by law to get this done – the Electricity at Work and  IET Wiring Regulations, to be exact. We’ve put together here a brief article on what you can expect from a service that provides electrical testing – and what you can do to make the process work for you. Let’s take a look.

The five-year rule – and why it’s wrong.

You’re only required to have your electrical wiring tested every five years if you’re the owner of a commercial, educational, office or retail property. It’s universally recommended, however, for you to get a schedule in place that sees your electricals tested more frequently than this. Simply put, it’s safer, more cost-effective in the long run and easy to arrange.

The good news is, you don’t have to get things done all in one go. That’s a real relief for owners of larger properties that are constantly having visitors, customers and clients within them. A provider of fixed wire electrical testing can perform testing on all or some of your circuits, meaning you can instead opt to arrange a rolling schedule wherein smaller and more frequent visits are made to test parts of your property. 

Routine checks.

Routine checks refer to brief testing performed between the formal fixed wire testing that is required by law. Usually, a routine check will involve a visual inspection of the wiring and a look over the equipment and any relevant switchgear. Your certified engineer will be looking for signs of wear and tear, missing or loose parts and general deterioration of wiring.

While the recommendation of routine checking schedules varies (establishments like swimming pools, hospitals and caravan parks have more frequent routine check requirements), it’s most often the case that a routine check should be done every 12 months. Beyond that, the maximum interval allowed between testing for most commercial properties is five years, with a further stipulation for testing at a change of occupancy.

Practical points.

It’s important that your testing provider works with you to create a schedule that’s practical and safe. A provider like Quest Electrical will work with you to help make it simple and straightforward to meet your compliance and safety requirements, suggesting tailored testing alternatives to break down the work involved. 

Because testing requires circuits to be temporarily closed down, it’s very helpful to be able to arrange out of hours and partial testing so you can maintain your commercial operation. A good testing provider will help to put together a schedule that meets your IET guidelines while keeping your property open as much as possible.