Periodic Electrical Installation Inspection – What to Inspect? 

By on

This is the second post in a series of two on periodic electrical inspections. In the first post, I discussed how often inspections should be carried out. If you missed that post, you may want to read it now:

Periodic Electrical Installation Inspection
– How Often?

As with how often, when looking at what to inspect there are two considerations – 1) inspection of systems, which businesses themselves have decided are critical to their operation and 2) the minimum systems which need to be inspected according to regulations.

The aim of any inspection is to ensure that the equipment is still maintaining the safety of persons, protecting equipment and property, providing the correct level of business continuity and has not been damaged or subject to defects.

Regulations such as the IEE Wiring Regulations in the UK and the National Electric code in the US give guidance on the level and detail of the inspection. Regulations tend to deal predominately with the safety of persons and property. Depending on the nature of the installation, it may be prudent for the owner to go beyond regulation by carrying out additional inspections to ensure business continuity.

Inspections will consist of visual investigations, supplemented by testing (for example checking the disconnection of times of protective relays).

  • In the UK, IEE Guidance Note 3, Inspection & Testing, lists items which should be considered for inclusion in any inspection and testing routine:
    • Inspection – joints, conductors , switchgear, fire barriers, extra low voltage systems, basic protection, protective devices, enclosures, marking and labelling
    • Testing – protective/bonding/ring-circuit conductor continuity, insulations resistance, polarity, earth electrode resistance, earth fault loop impedance and functional tests (RCD, circuit breakers)

In determining the extent of inspection and testing, considerable care needs to be taken to ensure everything is covered. On large installations, inspection and testing may cover a sample of the system – with subsequent inspections covering different portions of the system.

Inspections and testing will be carried out around live equipment and only suitably qualified personnel should be doing this work. Records and test results should be kept to verify that periodic inspections have been carried. Inspection and testing records can also be compared across time to evaluate changes in systems and aid in planning maintenance.



Steven McFadyen's avatar Steven McFadyen

Steven has over twenty five years experience working on some of the largest construction projects. He has a deep technical understanding of electrical engineering and is keen to share this knowledge. About the author

myElectrical Engineering

comments powered by Disqus



Load Flow Study – how they work

A load flow study is the analysis of an electrical network carried out by an electrical engineer. The purpose is to understand how power flows around...

Fault Calculations - Typical Equipment Parameters

A frequent problem in fault calculations is the obtaining of equipment parameters.  While it is always preferable to use the actual parameters of the equipment...

New Mail Chimp

We've been sending out Newsletters on a regular basis for a few weeks now. To do this we have been using Google's Feedburner service. While Feedburner...

IEC 61439 Verification Methods

The (relatively new) switchgear and control gear standard, IEC 61439 'Low-voltage switchgear and controlgear assemblies' has three methods which can be...

Voltage Drop in Installations - Concepts

Problems on achieving maximum voltage drop within an installation come up often. Depending where you live, local regulations will have different limits...

Electromagnetic Fields - Exposure Limits

Exposure to time varying magnetic fields, from power frequencies to the gigahertz range can have harmful consequences.  A lot of research has been conducted...

Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)

Electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is the study of coordinating electromagnetic fields give off equipment, with the withstand (compatibility) of other...

Cable Sizing Software

When sizing cables nearly, everyone uses some form of software. This ranges from homespun spreadsheets to complex network analyses software. Each has its...

Multimeter

Multimeters are undoubtedly the most common item of electrical test equipment in use.  Often it is the first piece of equipment people will turn to when...

Railway Electrification Voltages

This post is quick introduction and overview to different railway electrification voltages used in answer to a question sent in via email. While there...

Have some knowledge to share

If you have some expert knowledge or experience, why not consider sharing this with our community.  

By writing an electrical note, you will be educating our users and at the same time promoting your expertise within the engineering community.

To get started and understand our policy, you can read our How to Write an Electrical Note