Certification, schedules and reporting documentation
Choosing the document
An Electrical Installation Certificate covers new installations, new circuits, and additions or alterations that involve a new circuit. A Minor Electrical Installation Works Certificate covers minor work with no new circuit and no change to the characteristics of an existing circuit. An Electrical Installation Condition Report is for periodic inspection.
The schedules
Each certificate is accompanied by a Schedule of Inspections, a Schedule of Circuit Details and a Schedule of Test Results. The EICR uses a Schedule of Items Inspected. Record the supply characteristics - earthing arrangement, nominal voltage, number of phases, Ze, prospective fault current, main protective device rating, earthing and bonding conductor sizes. Record the test results actually measured: R1+R2, insulation resistance, Zs, RCD times, polarity and phase rotation. The EIC carries three declarations - design, construction and verification - which a single competent person may sign for small works. Departures must be recorded.
Part P
Notifiable work in dwellings requires a Building Regulations compliance certificate; a registered competent person self-certifies.
Trap: using a Minor Works Certificate for a new circuit.
Trap: leaving fields blank instead of N/A, or writing certification dates that do not match when the testing actually took place.
Trap: forgetting that the EICR needs the extent, limitations and next inspection date.
Rule of thumb: the certificate is only as good as the schedules attached to it.