Certelec Ltd: Terms and Conditions

General Conditions

1. Orders are taken verbally and are confirmed in writing by email or letter, detailing the type of Testing, Inspection and Certification service required including the fee basis. Failure to confirm in writing will not invalidate the verbal contract.
2. In the case of a fixed fee service, if you request us to carry out additional work, an additional fee will be payable and will calculated on a time plus disbursements/expenses basis unless otherwise agreed.
3. If we find that we are unable to fulfil your order because the situation with the building/system is significantly different to that previously described to us, or we are prevented from doing so by another party or by law or regulation or professional code of conduct, or we consider there to be an unacceptable health & safety risk you will pay to us the reasonable cost of time and expenses incurred.
4. Services are undertaken in accordance with the relevant Regulations together with the particular requirements of the Client and for a particular purpose. Consequently any liability which may arise from our service(s) will be restricted to the Client only and we are not to be held responsible for any action taken by others to whom this report may be made available unless we have agreed otherwise in writing.
5. Where estimated costs, budgets or allowances for remedial works are given in the report, these are only to indicate the likely order of costs, they must not be considered as an accurate assessment of costs and must not be relied upon as such. Due to the varying complexity of installation and remedial works you are advised to obtain written estimates, quotations or tenders from specialist electrical contractors with relevant experience and staff qualified to undertake electrical work to BS7671 before making any financial commitment.
6. When pre-payment has not been made, payment is due on receipt of our invoice, unless agreed otherwise. Interest will be charged at the rate of 2% per month on all overdue payments.
7. If you dispute the amount shown on the invoice you must inform us as soon as possible.
8. Complaints about the service(s) should be made through the complaints procedure, copies of the procedure are available from Certelec office.

PART 1: GENERAL

1. The Services. - The Testing, Inspection and Certification of electrical installations and systems and/or Portable Appliance Testing (PATS) which are described in Part 2 of these Terms ("the Description") apply unless an addition to the Service is agreed in writing before the Inspection. (An example of such an addition is reporting upon parts which are not normally inspected, estimate of costs to make system meet BS7671, replacement of fuse etc).
2. The Electrical Inspector who provides this Service will be JIB registered, CRB checked, an experienced person who is qualified to City & Guilds 2381 and 2391 and who has passed the ECS Health & Safety Assessment.
3. The Inspector who provides the Testing Service of Portable Appliances will be qualified to City & Guilds 2377.
4. Before the Inspection is carried out. The Client should inform the Surveyor of any particular concerns (such as intermittent faults, unusual smells, flickering lights, any known irregularities) which he or she may have noticed about the installation and provide any previous electrical certificates/ reports which have been issued for the installation or appliances.
5. Terms of payment. The Client agrees to pay the fee, any other charges agreed and any expressly agreed disbursements plus VAT. Until the invoice is paid the Certificate, and or Report or any PATS testing documentation remains the property of Certelec Ltd.
6. Cancellation. The Client will be entitled to cancel this contract by notifying the Certelec office 2 working days before the day of the Inspection. In case of cancellation by the Client less than 2 working days before the inspection is due the Client will be invoiced for 75% of the previously agreed fee + VAT. In case of cancellation before 2 working days, the Inspector will refund any money paid by the Client for the Service, except for expenses reasonably incurred. In the case of cancellation by the Test Inspector, the reason will be explained to the Client.
7. Liability. The Report provided is solely for the use of the Client and the Client's professional advisers, and no liability to anyone else is accepted. Should the Client not act upon specific, reasonable advice contained in the Report, no responsibility is accepted for the consequences.
8. Inspection, testing and certification of an electrical installation may require in- progress checks, i.e. visual inspection of the installation in progress, e.g. cable installation methods prior to being concealed within the fabric of the building or stud- partitioning & under floor cavities to ensure correct installation procedures are followed. Such Inspections would be described as “Intermediate Inspections”
9. The Client should provide the Inspector with reasonable, safe access to all areas of inspection. The Inspector’s duty does not include the lifting, dismantling of building materials. If the Inspector considers that access is restricted preventing her/his duties from being executed and/or conditions to be unsafe, the inspection will be aborted. Re-inspections may be arranged, this will incur additional costs to the Client.
10. If requested to carry out any inspection and testing work, this will indicate to us, that you have secured all necessary authority/permission from the owner/s and or tenant/s of the property to enable us to execute our duties as Electrical Inspectors.
11. Restriction on Disclosure - The Certificate/Report issued by Certelec Ltd is for the sole use of the named Client and their professional advisers however, if the Client is not the user or owner of the installation the Client should pass all Certification/Reports to the owner. Certelec Ltd will only disclose the details to appropriate authorities as legally obliged. Exception in the case of Certification/Reporting undertaken to meet Part P of the Building Regulations for notifiable work where Certelec is acting as an ‘agent’ for a Building Control Department the Certificate/Report will be provided to the appropriate Building Control Office, whilst Certelec recommend that a copy is provided to the user of the installation it is Building Control’s decision whether they provide a copy to the user.
12. For electrical installation systems Certelec Ltd will hold a copy of all installation reports and Certificates for 6 years as required by BS 7671 and Part P of the Building Regulations. For Portable Appliance testing Certelec Ltd will hold a copy of the combined inspection and test results, a register of all equipment and details of any equipment repaired by Certelec Ltd for 6 years as required by the IEE Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment.

PART 2: DESCRIPTION OF THE SERVICE

A. The Electrical Installation Testing Service comprises of one of the following:

• An Initial Inspection & testing of a new electrical installation, or an alteration or addition to an existing installation
• A Periodic inspection Report of an existing installation (not to be used when alterations and additions are made)

Each of the above will comprise of:

• “Intermediate Inspections” visual inspection of the installation in progress as may be required as an addition to the new installation certification service.
• A Test and Inspection of the system to BS7671:2001;2004.
• The issuing of the appropriate Certificate or Periodic Inspection Report inclusive of test results and schedule of inspections.
• Schedule of Inspections and Test Results in accordance with the inspection type.
• A recommendation for the time interval for the next inspection.
• An Appendix in Plain English explaining any recommended actions.

B. The Portable Appliance Testing Service inspects and tests electrical appliances to meet the requirements of the legislation* (see appendix) and in accordance with the I.E.E. (Institute of Electrical Engineers) Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment.

The Service comprises:

• The inspection and testing of all requested electrical equipment
• Each item of equipment to be given a unique identification number
• The labelling of all equipment tested, date tested, result of test and retest due-date
• An Equipment Register - A complete register of all equipment tested on the premises
• Pass Certificates - Full details of all test results for appliance that passed testing
• A Display Certificate - A Certificate for display in the staff room, notice board or reception to advise that the appliances on the premises have been tested for electrical safety.
• Fail Certificates - Appliances that failed testing showing details of the reason for fail
• If required a Repair Registry and/ a Register of Faulty Equipment for client’s use
• PAT 4 Certificate Summary – a summary sheet showing the statistics of the total number of tests, number of pass and number of fail tests, number of skip tests and number of repairs.

Appendix

* Health & Safety at Work Act etc. 1974, requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1988, the management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999, the Workplace (Health, Safety & Welfare) Regulations 1992 and the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.