Generic case study. We do not name the operator, the homes or the residents, the value is the testing approach, the cross-check with fire and emergency-lighting compliance, and the CQC-friendly pack we hand over after each visit.
The brief
A care-home operator with four sites across the South West (mix of converted Victorian residential, purpose-built single-storey, and one 1970s extended block). All four properties were due for periodic EICR. The previous contractor had delivered a one-page certificate per site with no schedule of test results, no photos, no observations log, and the registered manager was being asked by CQC inspectors during a routine visit to evidence electrical safety. The brief: a proper rolling cycle, per-site, BS 7671, with a compliance pack the manager could hand to a CQC inspector without flinching.
What we did
Survey + planning, all four sites in a single afternoon
- Walked every distribution board (DB), main switch panel, and meter cabinet across all four sites in one afternoon
- Counted final circuits per property (range: 28-46), identified the supply type (all 3-phase TP&N), and noted any restrictions (resident-occupied rooms, kitchens during meal service, medication rooms)
- Agreed with the registered manager which days/times each property could lose power on which boards (early morning before resident wake-up, mid-afternoon outside meal windows)
- Issued a written programme: 4 sites × 1-2 days each, rolled across two weeks
3-phase BS 7671 inspection & testing
Each site tested to BS 7671 (18th Edition), full periodic, with all readings logged per circuit:
- Insulation resistance, live conductors to earth, every final circuit, recorded in MΩ
- Continuity of CPCs and bonding conductors, every circuit
- Polarity verified at every accessory
- Earth fault loop impedance (Zs) on every circuit, compared to maximum permitted for the protective device
- RCD testing, trip times at IΔn, every protective device
- Visual inspection against BS 7671 Chapter 64, with thermal imaging on board terminations and 3-phase main switches under load
BS 5839-1 fire-alarm cross-check
Care homes are life-safety premises. We treat the fire alarm as inseparable from the EICR.
- Logged the fire-alarm panel make, model, last-service date, last-test-log entry and any standing faults, cross-referenced against the on-site BS 5839-1 service log
- Verified the fire-alarm circuit was on a dedicated, labelled MCB at the board (not RCD-protected, per BS 5839-1)
- Flagged any fire-alarm finding that needed the appointed BS 5839-1 contractor (we don't service fire alarms; we cross-check that they exist, work, and are documented)
BS 5266 emergency-lighting cross-check
- Walked every escape route at low level with the mains off, verifying every emergency luminaire illuminated and gave the required minimum lux
- Logged the make/model of each emergency luminaire, last 3-hour discharge test result from the on-site BS 5266 log
- Flagged any battery showing premature discharge, any luminaire with no test record, any escape route with insufficient coverage
The kit (test gear)
| Tool | Spec |
|---|---|
| Multifunction tester | Megger MFT, calibrated, certificate on file |
| Insulation | 500 V test, >1 MΩ minimum, recorded per circuit |
| Earth fault loop | Zs measured at end of every final circuit |
| RCD trip time | IΔn on every device |
| Voltage indicators | Fluke 2-pole approved voltage indicators (proved before/after every isolation) |
| Thermal imaging | Hand-held thermal camera on TP&N main switches and DB terminations under load |
| Cert format | NAPIT-format EICR + full schedule of test results, per property |
CQC-friendly compliance pack, per property
Each property gets its own folder, paper and digital, handed to the registered manager:
- EICR cover sheet, satisfactory / unsatisfactory, signed and dated
- Schedule of test results, every final circuit, every reading
- Schedule of inspections, every Chapter 64 item, ticked or commented
- Observations log, C1 / C2 / C3 / FI codes with photos and explanations a non-electrician can read
- BS 5839-1 fire-alarm cross-check note, status of the panel and any flag for the fire-alarm contractor
- BS 5266 emergency-lighting cross-check note, per-luminaire status
- Thermal-imaging photos of main switches and DB terminations under load
- Recommended remedial works list with each item priced separately
- Re-test date on the front of the folder, set per BS 7671 guidance for the property type
Result
Two of the four sites came back fully Satisfactory at first test. Two had C2 observations (including a bonding to the gas service that had been disconnected during a boiler swap). Both C2s remediated within two weeks of the EICR visit, re-tested and uplifted to Satisfactory. Operator now holds a full per-property compliance pack ready for any unannounced CQC visit. Annual cycle agreed for renewal of the two larger sites, biennial for the two smaller (per BS 7671 risk-based intervals).
Who it's for
Care-home and supported-living operators, retirement-village managers, NHS-contracted residential providers, dementia-care and nursing-home groups across Mid Somerset and surrounding areas, Bath, North Somerset and Wiltshire. Particularly suited to operators who need a single contractor to handle the full estate, deliver consistent paperwork format across sites, and cross-check fire and emergency-lighting compliance alongside the electrical EICR.
Why this approach. A care-home EICR is a CQC artifact, not just an electrical certificate. The registered manager needs to put it in front of an inspector and have every reading, every observation, every photograph make sense to a non-electrician. We write the paperwork like the inspector is going to read it, because they are.
Also see: EICR, commercial electrical, care home electrician.