Periodic Inspection Reports and Employment Tribunal

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Hi All,

I'm at employment tribunal on Monday,I was dismissed for whistleblowing and my ex employer had fabricated a whole host of issues after I was dismissed. One of their claims is that I blew a situation out of proportion with regard to the administrative process for periodic inspections. Essentially my ex employer, a social landlord, had piles and piles of periodics and installation certs which weren't paired up (installation certificate with failed periodic), they had no database compiled of this information and were failing to leave a certificate in the property. According to them their, 'administration of the system was not up to date, no more no less.'
Would anyone care to comment on their little admin problem and state the true facts?
Thanks in advance.
 
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You might find the local council have records relating to the way the landlord conducts his business of renting property. The informtion in them might then allow the council to add weight to your claim that you were right to highlight the apparent lack of proper tracability of records relating to matters of the safety of tenants.
 
My ex employer isn't a small private landlord, they're a social landlord who manage approximately six thousand properties which they inherited from the council under an large scale voluntary transfer (LSVT). I was their head of asset management.
 
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They were doing PIR's and lots of code 1 failures were highlighted, as you'd imagine across 6000 properties. If there had been an electrical incident and the HSE were called in then I was not comfortable with the audit trail.
 
Do you agree that if you have a failed periodic, the process is to address the coded failures by attaching the installation certificate to the failed periodic, there is no need to carry out another periodic that shows a 'pass'?
 
I was a new Head of asset management and I wouldn't get involved in the day to day operational details. My job was to take a strategic overview on the service and ensure systems were in place, I was immediately alarmed there was no system in place and the fact that I couldn't find installation certificates to address code 1 failures is the reason I couldn't be sure that remedial works had been carried out.
 
Thanks Holmslaw, though I actually disagree on your final point regarding the final certificate like an MOT. I'm not a qualified electrician but I was previously the named NICEIC supervisor for a large contractor and managed a team of electricians. I've had many discussions with the NICEIC on this point and there seems to be a very common misconception that a second 'pass' certificate has to be issued when in fact attaching the installation certificates which address the coded failures is good enough. I'm open to further persuasion though and would be interested in seeing the relevant documentation that supports your view?
 
I do alot of landlord work, some are good at getting things done- some leave alot to be desired

IMO all that's needed is a PIR initially and an EIC / Minor works for the remedials.
 
OK, but why would NICEIC give advice that effectively meant their 'club' members could only charge for one periodic rather than 2, I'd say this advice was to the financial detriment of their members? The electrical safety council give this advice to landlords... 'Once the necessary remedial work has been completed, an appropriate certificate should be issued to confirm that the remedial work has been carried out in accordance with BS 7671.' There is nothing about carrying out another periodic.
It's interesting that there is disagreement on such a fundamental point though.
 
There is no requirement in law to produce any paperwork whatsoever.

However there is a duty to maintain safe installations and if a risk of injury exists then an offence has been committed even if no actual injury is suffered. Without an identifiable risk, no offence has been committed.

In the event of any such offence there is a defence in law to show that all reasonable steps were taken to avoid the risk.

Contrary to Holmslaw's assertion it is entirely acceptable (and completely normal) for an unsatisfactory PIR to be accompanied by subsequent installation certificates covering any remedial work identified. Neither a periodic inspection report nor an electrical installation certificate have any legal status, but they can both be used in evidence to support a defence.
 
Never rely on NICEIC advise, it is usually slanted in favour of their club members, the contractors.
An interesting view, given that the NICEIC was never a trade body, rather a consumer protection organisation, prior to that role passing to the ESC.

The NICEIC has never gone out to bat for its contractors. Ask a few.
 

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