As an entrepreneur or business owner, you will have a lot of responsibilities. Although these responsibilities are important to the daily operations of a business, what matters a lot is to ensure the building’s safety. One way to ensure the safety of a building is to inspect electrical systems. This safety is important for you as well as your team, vendors, consumers, and suppliers who frequently visit the building.
What is an Electrical Inspection in Commercial Buildings?
It is a thorough assessment of electrical systems in buildings. Normally, electricians perform this assessment and use tools, like an electrical inspection camera, to identify potential problems. The key goal of the inspection is to protect businesses and tenants against electrical hazards, which may result in the following:
- Property damage
- Injuries
- Accidents
What Electrical Inspection Includes
Every electrical component is susceptible to general wear/tear and corrosion, especially if it’s heavily used in industrial and commercial settings. Industrial and commercial electrical inspection requires a professional and certified electrician with the equipment, expertise, and skills to conduct the whole process. It often involves four forms of checks. These include visual inspections, PAT (Portable Appliance Testing), detailed inspections, and user checks.
How Regularly Should the Inspection Be Conducted?
Many professionals recommend property owners inspect the electrical systems of their commercial buildings after five years. But this may also depend on a few factors, like the condition of the system, local laws, the building’s age, and business type. The general guidelines of the inspection include:
- Initial inspection – You should thoroughly inspect your electrical systems during the first installation. Ensure the contractor tests every component and connection of the system after the installation.
- Period inspection – Have a certified electrician inspect your systems after 3-5 years. But if you have a manufacturing company, do the inspection after one year.
- Annual visual inspection – A few businesses carry out a visual inspection yearly. This is a less detailed inspection that helps to identify signs of overloading damage or wear & tear.
- Following major additions or modifications – After making a significant change to an electrical system, have an electrician inspect the system to ensure it is working properly.
- Special situations – In some situations, frequent inspections of electrical systems will be important because of the building’s age or to ensure you stay compliant with the industry standards.
Reasons for Inspecting Electrical Systems
Scheduling a regular inspection of your electrical system is important for business or commercial buildings. By law, every commercial building must have an electrician inspect their systems because of the following reasons:
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Prevent Unexpected Faults
Without a regular inspection, your electrical system can be vulnerable to faults. All the untested systems will fail, leading to costly reactive maintenance, productivity loss, and unplanned downtime. Virtually, businesses depend on electricity so they can power important equipment and machinery. This means failure of a system may have a long-lasting implication, which can hit profit margins very hard. Through regular inspection, an electrician will identify faults and fix them before they become serious issues.
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Keep Customers and Employees Safe
Inspecting electrical systems regularly helps to keep customers and employees safe by protecting them against electrocution and harm that smoke inhalation or fire may cause. As a property owner, a regular inspection can also ensure guests and tenants’ safety. Most electrical problems aren’t easy to detect and may remain undetected until a fire starts or an employee or customer gets electrocuted. Especially electrical fires are hazardous because they normally happen behind the walls and might smolder for a very long time before they get detected.
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Find Bonding or Earthing Issues
As far as electrical projects are concerned, you must make sure that your bonding or earthing is enough for the electrical systems you have. When a building is constructed to code, proper bonding and earthing requirements should be met to make sure your systems are safe. As you begin to add or expand a building, you must ensure you have proper bonding or earthing to handle that extra electrical load. Through an inspection, your electrician will check the bonding/earthing to ensure it is enough for your needs.
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Ensure Compliance
An electrical inspection is not just a good practice. It is a legal requirement, too. The local regulations and codes require commercial property owners to have their electricians regularly inspect electrical systems so as to meet safety standards. By meeting all the compliance requirements, you will be able to protect yourself from legal issues.
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Make Electrical Systems Reliable
Our businesses need electricity for everyday operations because all the outlets, machines, and appliances rely on well-maintained electrical systems. Installations of electrical systems must be reliable and safe to ensure electrical machines are safe to use and prevent mishaps from happening.
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Extend Lifespan of Equipment
A commercial electrical system consists of different components, including machines, switches, panels, and wiring. With time, these components may become inefficient or deteriorate. Through regular inspection, you will be able to detect electrical issues and fix them on time, avoiding further damage and prolonging the system’s lifespan. By investing in regular inspection, you will save money on costly repairs or replacements, minimizing operational expenses.
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Protect Investments
In commercial buildings, electrical units are huge investments. Inspections serve as a form of coverage, protecting your investments by ensuring electrical units remain in good condition. This approach helps to prevent the expenses of replacing and repairing some components, which arise from neglected issues.
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Uphold Safety Standards
Our workplaces are packed with complex wiring systems and devices. If these systems and devices become faulty, they may lead to catastrophic consequences. An inspection that a licensed and certified electrician conducts is designed to cover potential fire hazards. This, in turn, ensures that switches, sockets, and wires work as they should, protecting both buildings and their inhabitants.
In conclusion, every property owner of commercial buildings must schedule an electrical inspection annually. Doing so ensures wiring and other components of an electrical system work properly. This inspection helps to spot potential issues, which may result in the risks of fires and electrical shorts. In addition, it can help ensure that lighting and equipment function correctly.