Are you fully compliant?

Are you fully compliant?

“The mindset of doing things as cheaply as possible must stop”.

Last month’s review of building regulations in the UK contains a number of damming statements like the one above, the headline message being that regulations are not “fit for purpose” with former Chair of the UK Health and Safety Executive, Dame Judith Elizabeth Hackitt stating;

“It has become clear that the whole system of regulation, covering what is written down and the way in which it is enacted in practice, is not fit for purpose, leaving room for those who want to take shortcuts to do so.”

The focus on the importance of regulations and compliance has certainly intensified over the last few months and anyone managing a building needs to take notice. The risk of heavy fines and bad press is now too large to ignore.

But don’t panic….

There are a number of ways that you can ensure that you are fully compliant and ElectriQL can help with many of these including emergency lighting, fire alarm, compliance and fixed wire testing. Companies have to supply reassurance that testing has been completed every 5 years which leads to many businesses mass testing everything when the deadline comes up. Not only is this not the most reliable method from a safety point of view, it can also be a very costly way of doing things.

ElectriQL however has a process that allows us to check at least 20% of electrical installations or circuits every year, meaning we can identify what has or hasn’t been done and complete the work in an efficient and cost effective manner, spreading payments across the 5 years. We aim to make this even more palatable using economies of scale, we can batch together other regulatory tests such as emergency lighting, fire alarms, PAT testing and fire extinguishers at the same time to create a lower combined cost.

We also have the latest technology to help with this process, for example our thermal image camera can take a photo of a board and mark up which circuits have been tested each year so the work can be continued into the following year. It can also identify “hot spots” that may become problematic in the future.

Keeping on top of the paperwork….

Companies are required by law to regularly test every item of electrical equipment used in the workplace. Our trained PAT (portable appliance testing) specialists use the latest equipment to test all electrical appliances to inform an unbiased report and list of your electrical assets. If any of your electrical equipment fails, ElectriQL notifies you right away. We use a shared cloud system to give customers access to compliance certificates at any time; a system that has proved invaluable! We’ve all been unable to find a piece of paperwork at the exact moment we need it so we hold a copy of everything as well as putting it on our cloud, the NICEIC (National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting) cloud and giving a copy to clients.

On top of this, ElectriQL also now offers fire alarm, emergency alarm and fire extinguisher testing. These services can be selected alongside our other services, giving us the opportunity to create tailored services and arrangements for each client. We are particularly proud of our fire alarm and fire extinguisher testing which are all areas that need to become a priority for Facilities Managers and others in charge of building maintenance.

Help with funding for remedial work

One area that always puts Facilities Managers off testing is the remedial work that it identifies as companies can’t always afford to get these smaller problems fixed. However not fixing them can be seen as negligence, the fine for which is much more costly than the work to fix the issue. ElectriQL can help fund this by producing a plan that will comply with HSE (Health and Safety Executive) guidelines and rules. The HSE is are aware that issues can’t be fixed overnight and ElectriQL can help you to produce evidence that remedial issues are being fixed in a manner that is cost effective for you.

Whilst there is no doubt that “the mindset of doing things as cheaply as possible must stop”, cheaply doesn’t have to mean expensive and ElectriQL can help companies comply and make changes in a controlled, legal and effective way.

Contact us today to discuss any compliance requirements or concerns you may have. You can also call 0800 917 721 to find out more about our other services or email [email protected]

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