Elim’s top priority is the health and safety of its customers and ensuring that we comply with statutory compliance is a necessity for your safety and a legal requirement. Customers have a legal responsibility to cooperate with these regulations and give access to Elim and its consultants and contractors to undertake testing, servicing, and surveying.
We realise that requiring access is inconvenient to our customers and we will try hard to arrange a suitable appointment with you but as these are legal requirements, you must give us access. You will be contacted by the contractor or consultant to arrange an appointment and this will be confirmed by letter from us. Failure to give access will result in Elim having to resort to legal action which we do not to want to do. This legal process can exceed £500 which customers will be liable for.
There are many regulations affecting each area of compliance the main regulation is referred to in the description of each area of statutory compliance. These regulations sit under The Health and Safety at Work Act etc 1974.
Note- Asbestos and Electrical management as described in customers homes also applies to communal areas.
The Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998 (GSIUR) requires Elim to carry out an annual gas, safety certificate CP12, to all properties which have a gas or liquid petroleum gas appliance present. This is normally the boiler and when we carry out this CP12 we service the boiler and carry out testing of the smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. As well as ensuring the boiler is safe the servicing of the boiler will assist in reducing boiler breakdowns and reduce inconvenience to customers. This process takes approximately 40 minutes there must be gas and electricity available to carry out this test.
The Building Regulations Approved Document (section G3) requires an unvented hot water cylinder to be installed and maintained by a competent person. This means an annual inspection is required. Unvented hot water cylinders are also contained in heat pump installations and properties served by central boiler plants which have a heat exchanger unit within each property. Most people are unaware that an unvented hot water cylinder requires an annual inspection of the key safety devices fitted to the system. Customers should be aware that these cylinders installed in their property are pressurised container and will require regular maintenance just like a gas boiler. There are only 90 properties which have unvented cylinders and those which have a gas boiler will not have one of these cylinders. This process will take approximately 40 minutes and there must be electricity available to carry out the test.
The 18th Edition of the Institution of Engineering and Technology Wiring Regulations (BS 7671:2018). Requires all domestic wiring installations to be designed, constructed, inspected, tested, and certificated to meet the requirements of BS 7671:2019. It is recommended that an electrical installation in a domestic tenanted property is inspected and tested at least every 5 years, resulting in the creation of an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR).
This testing process takes approximately two and a half hours and requires electricity to be available to carry out this test. The electricity supply will be turned off for periods when this is undertaken. So please be aware of this inconvenience and be prepared to reset items such as internet routers and some gas boiler programmers. The periods of power disruption will be relatively short and not enough to affect fridge and freezer temperatures. Any required repairs to the electrical installation are carried out at the time of testing to ensure the installation is safe and reduce inconvenience to customers.
The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 require Elim to mange properties that contain asbestos containing materials. This requires that all properties built prior to 2,000 have an asbestos management survey undertaken, if asbestos is not found then there is no need for further action. If asbestos containing materials are found, Elim must manage these materials and reinspect their condition on a regular basis as part of this management.
The inspection depends on the type of asbestos and its location and is recommended that this is carried out between 1 and 3 years. The asbestos management survey takes about 1 hour and reinspection about 40 minutes. We have carried out most asbestos management surveys and we have removed any potentially dangerous asbestos. The asbestos containing materials remaining are not of concern if left undisturbed. Common asbestos containing materials in which the asbestos fibres are bound in the material include; artex ceilings, floor tiles, asbestos cement which may be in the form of a board or flue and is commonly found on old garage roofs and gutters. Most of the asbestos in customers’ homes is classified as bonded and requires an inspection every 2 years.
British Standard BS: 5839 requires the weekly testing of fire alarms to communal areas and service/test every 6 months, these tests include testing any automatic opening smoke vents. British Standard, BS EN 50172 / BS 5266-8 requires emergency lighting systems to have a short functional test every month. A full discharge test is undertaken every 12 months.
The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 requires Elim to undertake a FRA every 5 years and a FRA review every 2 years until a new FRA is required at approximately 5 years. The FRA is only carried out on properties which have a communal area such as flats and houses in multiple occupation. There is no requirement on a FRA to gain access to every property or room off the communal area to check the flat front door individually. If it is visually clear that all front doors are uniform and of similar design and construction. The FRA takes about one hour, FRA review takes about 40 minutes. The FRA will advise on any actions that are required and this will be undertaken as soon as possible. One customer in a flat, or HMO with a communal area will be contacted by the fire risk assessor and arrangements made to inspect their front door.
The Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998 (LOLER) requires passenger lifts to be inspected by a ‘Competent Person’ at no longer than six monthly intervals. These inspections take about an hour and means the lift is out of service for this period. This is additional to the servicing of these passenger lifts. Servicing frequency depends on the type, manufacture and use of the lift but is commonly 4 times a year and again takes about an hour.
We also have a very small number of stair lifts and hoists, which require an annual inspection and service within communal areas and customers homes. These customers will be contacted directly by the inspectors and servicing contractors.
The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) Approved Code of Practice (ACOP L8) entitled "The Control of Legionella Bacteria in Water Systems", establishes the water hygiene standards to be adopted in order to comply with legal responsibilities under the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations. This requires Elim to carry out water risk assessments, testing and regular risk reviews and the temperature monitoring of complex water systems. These systems are normally associated with properties with hot water and heating provided by central plant.
The frequency of monitoring is determined by the risk assessment but is normally carried out on a quarterly basis and involves testing of water temperatures, inspections of cold-water tanks and the cleaning of shower heads.
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