Testing & Inspection

Excel Electrical Services Ltd complete the following types of electrical testing for industrial, commercial and domestic.

• Electrical  Installation  (New Works)
• Periodic Test and Inspection
• Landlord ‘Safe to Let’ Certificates
• Portable Appliance Testing

Through our expertise and commitment to excellence in customer service we ensure our client’s organisation meets all the electrical health, safety and legal requirements at a very competitive price.

We can offer you a free, no obligation survey of the electrical installation at your premises in order to provide a very competitive and accurate quote to carry out the report.

Periodic Test & Inspection

Periodic inspection and testing is necessary because all electrical installations deteriorate due to a number of factors, i.e. damage, wear, tear, corrosion, excessive electrical loading, ageing and environmental influences.

The IEE Wiring Regulations (BS 7671) require that Periodic Inspection and Testing of electrical installations is carried out at such intervals that are consistent with the type of installation, its use and operation, the frequency of maintenance and the external influences upon it.

To comply with these regulations, we would recommend that you seriously consider a periodic inspection report on your premises.

"Periodic tests should be made in such a way as to minimise disturbance of the installation and inconvenience to the user. Where it is necessary to disconnect part or whole of the installation in order to carry out a test, the disconnection should be made at a time agreed with the user and for the minimum period needed to carry out the test. Where more than one test necessitates a disconnection where possible they should be made during one disconnection period.

A careful check should be made of the type of equipment on site so that the necessary precautions can be taken, where conditions require, to disconnect or short-out electronic and other equipment which may be damaged by testing."

Periodic Testing inevitably causes some disruption on the site due to the requirements for disconnecting electrical circuits at various times during the testing. For this reason careful planning and time management is a necessity, and in practice testing is often best performed outside of normal working hours.

The results and extent of periodic inspection and testing should be recorded on a Periodic Inspection Report and provided to the person ordering the inspection. The report must include the extent of the work, limitations, details of defects and dangerous conditions, and schedules of inspections and test results. Immediately dangerous conditions should be rectified or reported without delay to the relevant duty holder. Other recommendations and observations should be reported using a numbering system to indicate the severity of each observation.

Periodic Test and Inspection Frequency 

Type of Installation	Maximum period between inspections & testing as necessary
General Installation
Domestic	Change of occupancy/10 years
Commercial	Change of occupancy/5 years
Educational Establishments	5 years
Hospitals	5 years
Industrial	3 years
Residential accommodation	5 years
Offices	5 years
Shops	5 years
Laboratories	5 years
Buildings open to the public
Cinemas	1 to 3 years
Church installations	5 years
Leisure Complexes (excluding swimming pools)	3 years
Places of public entertainment	3 years
Restaurants and Hotels	5 years
Theatres	3 years
Public houses	5 years
Village halls/community centers	5 years
Special Installations
Agricultural & horticultural	3 years
Caravans	3 years
Caravan parks	1 year
Highway power supplies	6 years
Marinas	1 year
Fish farms	1 year
Swimming pools	1 year
Emergency lighting	3 years
Fire alarms	1 year
Launderettes	1 year
Petrol filling stations	1 year
Construction site installations	3 months

Sourced from:

IEE Wiring Regulations Seventeenth Edition Guidance Note 3 Inspection & Testing

Portable Appliance Testing Services

When people work with electrical appliances, health and safety regulations state that the appliance must be safe, to prevent harm to the workers. Many types of equipment require testing at regular intervals to ensure continual safety; the interval between tests depending on both the type of appliance and the environment it is used in.

Moreover, Insurance companies are now insisting on PAT Testing being carried out every 12 months (or less) in order to satisfy the conditions of their policy, and local council inspectors (Fire Officers, Environmental Health Officers) are routinely asking for evidence of PAT Testing when they carry out their inspections.

Evidence of testing is clearly visible to workers in the form of 'Passed', 'Tested For Electrical Safety' and 'DO NOT USE after' labels affixed to various parts of the electrical equipment they use.