Preventative Maintenance For The Commercial Business
Commercial and industrial premises usually have complex electrical power and lighting systems. As a business leader, it makes sense to have preventative maintenance conducted on your electrical and lighting systems.
Electrical panel inspections, electrical safety, and lighting surveys ensure that your premises are safe and fully operational. In turn, that also means no interruption to the daily running of your business, and subsequently, no adverse impact on your company's revenue.
Electrical Panel Inspections
When you run a thriving commercial business, you’ll likely not pay much thought to preventative maintenance for your premises. It won’t be high up on your list of priorities, as you’ll undoubtedly be concentrating on the day-to-day running of your company.
The thing is, your premises are an essential asset to your business. Without it, you cannot easily continue the daily functions required by your firm. Plus, as an employer, you have a legal duty to ensure your employees' safety at your commercial premises.
With all that in mind, why is it so important to have an electrical panel inspection conducted at your premises?
Safety
As you can imagine, electrical panels play an important and crucial role in any commercial building. Their job is to deliver and regulate electricity to various machines and equipment safely, efficiently, and in a controlled way.
When you have a regular electrical panel inspection carried out, you can significantly reduce the risk of electrical injuries or fatalities occurring at your premises.
Efficiency
As your business grows, so too will your workplace demands. Manufacturers and companies that assemble goods will need additional equipment to cope with increased demand. Extended offices will require extra wiring to new sockets and additional lighting.
An electrical panel inspection is an excellent way to determine whether you need a commercial panel upgrade to cope with extra demand. Plus, it ensures electricity gets distributed more efficiently and avoids voltage drops or spikes due to additional demand.
Commercial Lighting Surveys
Electrical panels aren’t the only things in your workplace that should get periodically inspected. Another essential task that should be part of your workspace preventative maintenance plan is a commercial lighting survey.
All commercial buildings, such as offices, workshops, and industrial units, have numerous lighting requirements. When you run a business, it goes without saying that your staff needs to see what they're doing when conducting their work each day.
Some people may assume that a commercial lighting survey checks whether all lights are functioning as expected. However, there's more to such surveys than checking and replacing light bulbs:
Lighting Coverage
Any business needs to provide the right lighting for its employees to carry out their duties. If you have warehouse lighting that is dimly-lit, for example, your staff will find it hard to perform their work. And that could result in lower productivity and revenue for your firm.
Commercial lighting surveys will help you determine where you need to upgrade the lights at your premises.
Safety
Having the right commercial lighting is very important from a safety perspective. Inadequate lighting could be potentially dangerous. It might result in employee complaints or even legal action taken against your company due to insufficient safety levels.
Another example of potential safety issues involves exterior lighting. Staff, visitors, and delivery trucks might find it hard to navigate the exterior of your premises at night or during other low-light conditions.
When you have a commercial lighting survey carried out, you’ll have the opportunity to correct any safety-related problems.
Lighting Costs
Some commercial premises, such as old factories and warehouses, may have inefficient lighting systems. You could find that your electricity costs are sky-high due to your premises having outdated lighting.
A commercial lighting system can flag up such issues and give you options to upgrade your lights to energy-efficient ones. For example, LED lighting can provide whiter, crisper lighting at a fraction of the cost of incandescent bulbs.
Electrical Safety Inspections
A report by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) shows that 8% of all workplace fatalities between 2011 and 2016 got caused by electricity exposure. Another report from the NFPA shows 24,100 people had non-fatal electrical injuries at work between (562)548-2788.
As you can imagine, the last thing you want to happen at your workplace is employees injuring themselves (or worse) while they're working. The consequences of such events could have a far-reaching impact on the reputation and continuity of your business.
Preventative maintenance makes absolute sense for businesses, so regular electrical safety inspections should be a part of your maintenance schedule. Aside from ensuring the safety of your team, the following are more reasons to opt for regular electrical inspections:
Legal Obligations
As an employer, you are legally obligated to provide a safe working environment for your employees. If your workers get seriously or fatally injured due to negligent safety, the consequences can include:
- Facing a lawsuit and compensation claim from the victims or their families
- A class-action lawsuit from other employees
- A negative business reputation that could potentially force your business to shut down
Electrical Efficiency
Over time, electrical wiring can degrade due to wear or environmental factors. When that happens, you could find your electrical equipment fails more often than expected due to supply inefficiency.
When you have an electrical safety inspection carried out at your premises, you’ll find out if you’ve got electrical efficiency problems. You’ve then got the opportunity to take corrective action, such as having an electrical panel upgrade or new wiring installed.
Future-Proofing
Last but not least, electrical safety inspections will also help your business plan for the future. If you expand your business, for example, you can upgrade your wiring and be ready for any future expansion plans.
To find out more about how Suncoast Energy can help with your commercial electrical services needs, contact our friendly team today to discuss your requirements.
