ELECTRICAL SAFETY
Completing an electrical installation condition report
Matthew Gilmore, Contracts manager at Guardian Electrical Compliance, discusses some of the complexities and challenges of completing an electrical installation condition report in healthcare and medical environments. He explains the requirements, process, and reporting, required to enable an electrical duty-holder to meet their legal responsibilities.
Completing an electrical installation condition report in healthcare and medical environments has always been a challenge. Contributing to this challenge are the need to minimise interruptions to care, critical supply requirements, an ageing infrastructure, and budget constraints. In 2011 the regulations surrounding such environments changed, and a section relating to special locations, Section 710 – Medical Locations, was introduced to BS7671 – Requirements for Electrical Installations. In my many years specialising in healthcare and medical electrical installations, I have seen a system created to complete a high standard of inspection and test in this area. From initial planning to the completion of the additional requirements around the medical location regulations, all areas of statutory regulations can be addressed, as I will now go on to explain.
What is an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR)? An EICR is a report that provides an electrical duty-holder with information on the condition of their electrical installation. The basis of the inspection and test is to determine whether the installation is in a satisfactory condition for continued use.
With the information collated via the TraQ-It web-based reporting system, a detailed programme of works to complete the final circuit inspection and testing can be designed specifically for the client’s needs.
Each main panel and distribution board has its own report, and this group of reports makes up the complete EICR for the electrical installation. Under the statutory Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 Regs 4(1) & (2), a duty-holder has the responsibility to ensure that all systems are maintained safely at all times in order to prevent danger. BS7671:2018
advises similarly under regulation 652.2, as regards the need for maintenance with appropriate records being kept, i.e. the issuing of an EICR. The content and procedure to complete an EICR are listed in BS7671, chapter 65. This is a non- statutory regulation, but the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) states: ‘The main standard for low voltage electrical installations is BS7671. Meeting the requirements of this standard is likely to achieve compliance with the relevant parts of the EAW regulations.’
The sequence of required actions that must be completed for the life of the electrical installation. Under EAW 1989 regulations 4(1) & (2), a duty-holder must ensure that all systems are maintained in a safe condition.
Health Technical Memoranda The National Health Service has its own set of guidance regulations. These are in the form of a series of Health Technical Memoranda (HTMs). The HTMs that cover the requirements of an EICR are HTM 06-01 – Electrical services supply & distribution, and HTM 06-02 – Electrical safety guidance for low voltage systems. Both documents refer to the statutory requirements for the duty-holder to have up-to-date and accurate inspection and test records of the electrical installation. The installation must comply with the requirements set out in BS7671. What makes healthcare buildings different is
October 2021 Health Estate Journal 35
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