Standard

BS 7671 / IET GN3

Typical interval

5 years commercial

Report issued

BS 7671 / IET GN3

Disruption

Circuit-by-circuit isolation

On this page
Talk to an engineer

01726 839333

Mon–Fri 8am–5pm. 24/7 emergency line out of hours.

01

Testing Overview

An Electrical Installation Condition Report inspects the fixed wiring in a building — boards, circuits, protective devices, earthing and bonding — and grades what it finds. A useful EICR does more than record codes: it tells the responsible person which findings stop the building being safe today, which need planning, and what each costs.

Recall delivers EICRs across commercial, education, care, hospitality and rented residential property. Testing is planned circuit by circuit so occupied buildings keep running, with isolation windows agreed before we arrive.

PAT testing runs alongside it. Portable appliances are tested, labelled and logged into an asset register, so next year the schedule already knows what is on site and where it lives.

Electrical testing exists to answer one question: is this installation safe to keep using? An inspection that returns a pile of codes without context does not answer it. Ours sets out what is dangerous now, what needs planning, and what is simply worth improving when the circuit is next touched.

Testing is carried out by qualified engineers working to BS 7671 and IET Guidance Note 3, with sampling levels agreed in advance rather than decided on the day. That matters, because a 10% sample and a 100% inspection produce very different reports on the same building.

Where we have tested a site before, the new report is compared against the last one. Repeat findings on the same circuits usually point at something structural — moisture ingress, mechanical damage, overloading — and that is worth knowing before you pay to correct the symptom twice.

Fixed wiring inspection at a distribution board
02

EICR — Fixed Wiring Inspection

The fixed wiring inspection covers everything permanently connected: distribution boards, circuits, protective devices, earthing and bonding. Testing is carried out circuit by circuit so occupied buildings keep running.

Visual inspection

Boards, accessories, containment, signs of overheating, damage or unsafe modification.

Dead & live testing

Continuity, insulation resistance, polarity, earth fault loop impedance and RCD operation.

Coded observations

Every finding coded C1, C2, C3 or FI with a plain-English explanation of the risk.

Schedule of results

Full test results per circuit, so next inspection can compare against a baseline.

03

PAT — Portable Appliance Testing

Portable appliance testing runs alongside the fixed wiring inspection, so one visit covers both duties and one asset register carries forward year to year.

PAT & asset register

Appliance testing, labelling and a register of what was tested, where, and when it is next due.

Risk-based frequency

Test intervals set by environment and use — a site drill is not on the same cycle as a desk monitor.

Labelling

Pass labels applied with test date, next due date and engineer identification.

Fail handling

Failed items removed from service, recorded and — where economic — repaired and retested.

04

Reporting & Remedials

Every report arrives in the same format, so this year can be compared against last year without re-reading the whole thing.

Priced remedials

A costed action list against the same report — no second survey required.

Digital certificates

Issued within five working days and stored against your compliance record.

Code
Meaning
Example
Action
C1
Danger present — risk of injury
Exposed live conductor
Made safe immediately
C2
Potentially dangerous
No earthing at an accessory
Urgent remedial required
C3
Improvement recommended
No RCD on a lighting circuit
Advisory — plan it in
FI
Further investigation
Unidentified circuit
Return visit to trace

An EICR is only satisfactory when no C1, C2 or FI observations remain. C3 items do not make a report unsatisfactory.

05

How it works

1

Scope and quote

We confirm the number of distribution boards, circuit count and access constraints, then fix a price.

Same week

2

Agree isolation windows

Circuits needing shutdown are scheduled around trading, teaching or care routines.

Before attendance

3

On-site testing

Inspection and testing carried out by a qualified engineer, with findings discussed before we leave.

1–5 days

4

Report issued

Digital EICR, schedule of results and coded observation list sent to the responsible person.

Within 5 days

5

Remedial works

C1 findings made safe immediately; C2 and C3 works scheduled against your budget cycle.

By agreement
06

Your legal duty

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 place a duty on employers to maintain electrical systems so far as reasonably practicable to prevent danger. For rented residential property, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector Regulations require an EICR at least every five years and at change of tenancy, with remedials completed within 28 days.
EAWR 1989
BS 7671 18th Edition
PRS Regulations 2020
IET Guidance Note 3
07

Why choose Recall

Frequently asked

How long does an EICR take?

BAFE is one of the UK’s leading independent registration bodies for the fire safety industry. It verifies fire safety work is delivered by competent organisations to recognised standards, giving confidence that your fire safety responsibilities are properly supported.

For part of the testing, yes — circuit by circuit rather than the whole building. We agree the sequence in advance so critical loads such as servers, freezers and care equipment are protected.

That is common on older installations and is not a crisis. C1 items are made safe on the day; everything else arrives as a priced, prioritised list you can plan against.

The law requires appliances to be maintained in a safe condition; PAT testing is the accepted way to demonstrate that. Frequency is risk-based — a construction site drill is not on the same cycle as an office monitor.

Yes. Reports are issued in the standard NICEIC format that insurers, landlords and auditors expect, with our registration details on them.

Get your EICR scheduled

Tell us your board count and postcode and we will price it the same week.