Testing and CertificationTest Certification

Section 5, British Standards 6651 states that all Lightning Conductors and Earth Installations should be "visually inspected and tested regularly at fixed intervals, preferably not exceeding 12 months". It is beneficial to choose a period slightly shorter than 12 months, in order to vary the season in which tests are made.

Each individual Earth Installation, as well as the fully connected system, will be electronically tested for resistance to the ground, and if below the overall 10 Ohms maximum specified, a Certificate of Compliance will be issued. On Single Mast and part systems, the same certificate will be issued for the Earth Installations only.

As part of our continuing service, all test conditions and results are recorded and a reminder is sent out before the anniversary of the test date. Included in a test are 5 different sheets which include; a Test Certificate, Test Report, Earth Record Sheet, Risk Assessment and a Drawing of the earth positions.

Test Certificate — receiving a test certificate provides you with an acknowledgement that the building has passed the British standard and has a safe lightning conductor system.

Test Report — the test report simply describes the lightning conductor system the building has installed, what materials have been used, the number of down conductors and the size of tape etc.

Earth Record Sheet — an earth record sheet tells you the earth resistance in which each rod has been placed, what ground the rod was installed in, what type of pit it has and where on the down conductor it was tested etc.

Risk Assessment — a risk assessment is a three page booklet we will give you before we have installed the system. Providing the building requires a lightning conductor system, this will let you know exactly how safe it will be to work on and around the building, and the risks involved, before having it installed.

Earth Position Drawing — when we have finished the test you will always get a drawing of exactly where the earth positions are on the buildings; this allows us to link the place of the earth and any defects to it, as clearly as possible.