Notes for IPN4

NOTES FOR RECIPIENTS

THIS DOMESTIC ELECTRICAL INSTALLATION CONDITION REPORT IS AN IMPORTANT AND VALUABLE DOCUMENT WHICH SHOULD BE RETAINED FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

The purpose of periodic inspection is to determine, so far as is reasonably practicable, whether an electrical installation is in a satisfactory condition for continued service (see Section E and G). This report provides an assessment of the condition of the electrical installation identified overleaf at the time it was inspected and tested, taking into account the stated extent of the installation and the limitations of the inspection and testing.

The report identifies any damage, deterioration, defects and/or conditions found by the inspector which may give rise to danger (see Section F), together with any items for which improvement is recommended.

If you were the person ordering this report, but not the user of the installation,you should pass this report, or a full copy of it including these notes, the schedules and additional pages (if any), immediately to the user.

This report should be retained in a safe place and shown to any person inspecting or undertaking further work on the electrical installation in the future.If you later vacate the property, this report will provide the new user with an assessment of the condition of the electrical installation at the time the periodic inspection was carried out.

Where the installation incorporates residual current devices (RCDs), there should be a notice at or near the distribution board stating that they should be tested quarterly. FOR SAFETY REASONS, IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU CARRYOUT THE TEST REGULARLY.

For safety reasons, the electrical installation should be re-inspected at appropriate intervals by a skilled person or persons, competent in such work. The recommended date by which the next inspection should be carried out is stated in Section I of this report. There should also be a notice at or near the main switchboard or consumer unit indicating when the next inspection of the installation is due. NICEIC* recommends that you engage the services of an Approved Contractor for the inspection.

This report has been issued in accordance with the national standard for the safety of electrical installations, British Standard 7671 (as amended) Requirements for Electrical Installations.

Only an NICEIC Approved Contractor or Conforming Body is authorised to issue this NICEIC Electrical Installation Condition Report form.

You should have received the report marked ‘Original’ and the Approved Contractor should have retained the report marked ‘Duplicate’.

The report consists of at least eight numbered pages. Additional numbered pages may have been provided to permit further relevant information relating to the installation to be recorded. For installations having more than one distribution board or more circuits than can be recorded on Pages 7 and 8, one or more additional Schedules of Circuit Details and Schedules of Test Results should form part of the report. The report is invalid if any of the pages identified in Section H are missing. The report has a printed seven-digit serial number, which is traceable to the Approved Contractor to which it was supplied by NICEIC.

This report form is intended to be issued only for the purpose of reporting on the condition of an existing electrical installation. The report should identify, so far as is reasonably practicable and having regard to the extent and limitations recorded in Section D, any damage, deterioration, defects, dangerous conditions and any non-compliances with the requirements of the national standard for the safety of electrical installations which may give rise to danger, together with any items for which improvement is recommended.

The report should not have been issued to certify that new electrical installation work complies with the requirements of the national safety standard. An ‘Electrical Installation Certificate’, a ‘Domestic Electrical Installation Certificate’ or a ‘Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate’ (as appropriate) should be issued for the certification of new installation work.

This report should not have been issued for an electrical installation in a potentially explosive atmosphere (hazardous area) unless the Approved Contractor holds an appropriate extension to NICEIC enrolment for such work.

Section D (Extent and limitations) should identify fully the extent of the installation covered by this report and any limitations on the inspection and testing. The inspector should have agreed these aspects with the person ordering the report and with other interested parties (licensing authority, insurance company, mortgage provider and the like) before the inspection was carried out. Some operational limitations may have been encountered during the inspection such as inability to gain access to parts of the installation or to an item of equipment. The inspector should have noted any such limitations in Section D. It should be noted that the greater the limitations applying to a report, the less its value from the safety aspect.

A declaration of the overall condition of the installation should have been given by the inspector in Section G of the report. The declaration must reflect the statement given in Section E, which summarises the observations and recommendations made in Section F. Where one or more observations have been made in Section F, the Classification code given to each by the inspector indicates the degree of urgency with which remedial action needs to be taken to restore the installation to a safe working condition.

Where the inspector has indicated an observation as code C1 (danger present) the safety of those using the installation is at risk, and it is recommended that a skilled person competent in electrical installation work undertakes the necessary remedial work immediately.

Where the inspector has indicated an observation as code C2 (potentially dangerous) the safety of those using the installation may be at risk, and it is recommended that a skilled person competent in electrical installation work undertakes the necessary remedial work as a matter of urgency.

Where the inspector has indicated that an item requires further investigation (FI), the investigation should be carried out without delay to determine whether danger or potential danger exists. For further guidance on the Classification codes, please see the reverse of page 2.

Where the installation can be supplied by more than one source, such as the public supply and a standby generator or micro generator, the number of sources should have been recorded in Section K Supply Characteristics and Earthing Arrangements on page 3 of the report, and the Schedule of Test Results compiled accordingly. Where inadequacies in the electricity distributor’s or supplier’s equipment have been observed (Section 1 of the inspection schedule), the person ordering the inspection should inform the distributor and/or supplier as appropriate.

Should the person ordering this report have reason to believe that it does not reasonably reflect the condition of the electrical installation reported on, that person should in the first instance raise the specific concerns in writing with the Approved Contractor. If the concerns remain unresolved, the person ordering this report may make a formal complaint to NICEIC, for which purpose a complaint form is available on request.

The complaints procedure offered by NICEIC is subject to certain terms and conditions, full details of which are available upon application. NICEIC does not investigate complaints relating to the operational performance of electrical installations (such as lighting levels), or to contractual or commercial issues (such as time or cost).

* NICEIC, is operated by Certsure LLP, a partnership between the Electrical Contractors’ Association and the charity, Electrical Safety First. NICEIC maintains and publishes registers of electrical contractors that it has assessed against particular scheme requirements (including the technical standard of electrical work).