UK Electrical Inspection

The UK is ploughed full of electrical items all which bring specific risks or potential to fail, due to this electrical inspections are required to test their safety. The main purpose of an electrical inspection within the UK is to ensure that electrical products are safe to use, wear and tear can often impact on the safety aspects of products. Major electrical faults have caused major accidents in the past which means electrical inspections are highly important.
Electrical inspections should only be carried out by qualified electricians who are also certified electrical inspection professionals. All electrical items should be checked regularly including office items such as computers, fans, printers, photocopiers and scanners. When an inspection is carried out, inspectors are checking for any faults and also that the items are functioning at the correct voltage. This is one of the main reasons as to why inspections should be carried out by trained professionals; a live current running through an electrical product can give substantial injury. Due to this, an inspector must ensure the electrical item it isolated from any dangerous source of supply where ever possible. The most common injury from an electrical inspection is an electric shock. This is one of the purposes of the inspection, to ensure a product does not give out electric shocks to the user. More serious injury can be burns or even fatal injury resulting from high voltage flowing through the body.
Places such as organisations and schools must employ businesses to carry out electrical inspections within their location area. This is likely to happen every year and is to ensure that all electrical items are safe to use by whoever is operating them. An item which is tested is given a sticker after the test stating whether the item has assed or failed the inspection. An item which has passed is safe to be used as normal and should be tested again the following year. A product which has passed is usually given a green pass ticker. An electrical item given the rating of fail means the item is not safe to use. This product should be withdrawn from use as it represents dome form of risk. If an employer fails to withdraw the item and an employee then becomes injured from the item, the employer is by law responsible for the injury.
Some organisations may fail to have their electrical items regularly checked as the processes of paying for the inspections can be expensive. Some electricians who are qualified charge up to 30 per hour just for labour costs.
Professional equipment is required to carry out an electrical inspection, which is another reason as to why only qualified inspectors should carry out the inspections.
Different rated items require different tests, such as high risk equipment, handheld equipment, and portable equipment.