Pentalec have recently been instructed to complete a 5 Year Periodic inspection on a large London Shopping Centre. An award of a testing contract is not something we would normally put in our news feed but this particular project has highlighted a major industry problem that exists.

Over the last decade we have seen a decrease in the cost of Periodic inspections on commercial and domestic properties. What is alarming however is the as well as the cost, the quality of the inspections being carried out has also decreased. Electrical safety cannot ever be compromised and it is the duty of accredited Electricians and Electrical Contractors to ensure this does not happen.

Following a small lighting installation project our engineer was completing his tests and inspections in readiness to issue a Minor Works Certificate. It was at this point it was noted that there was no Main Earth Bonding and this was raised with the centre management. A copy of the 5 Year Periodic Inspection report was then reviewed and it did not highlight this issue despite only being recently completed. Further checks were then completed and it was found that the report failed to identify a large number of issues on the site including several code C1 defects.