It is the building owner's responsibility to ensure its safe use in the event of such weather phenomena as strong winds, heavy rain and snowfall, seismic tremors, landslides, lightning strikes, floods or fires, as well as all other phenomena that may pose a threat to people's lives or health, and to property and environmental safety.
What needs to be checked every year?
Certain elements must be inspected at least once a year. Such building inspections cover gas installations and chimney flues, installations and equipment serving environmental protection, as well as building and installation components exposed to the adverse effects of atmospheric factors and damaging influences during use. However, the listed installations must be inspected at least twice a year, by May 31 and November 30, if they are part of buildings with a built-up area of more than 2,000 square meters
What requires inspection once every five years?
Some building inspections must be carried out once every five years. This applies to checking the technical condition and suitability of the building, as well as its appearance and surroundings. In addition, electrical and lightning protection installations should be inspected, including, among other things, their equipment, the efficiency of connections and protective devices, and the insulation resistance of the wiring. The grounding of the installations is also subject to inspection.
Every five years, the energy efficiency of the refrigeration equipment used in air-conditioning systems should also be checked.
Other important periodic building inspections
It is also worth remembering that whenever strong winds, lightning strikes, seismic tremors, landslides, heavy rain and snowfall, fires, floods or similar phenomena occur, a so-called safe-use inspection of the building should be carried out.
In addition, the technical condition of boilers, their energy efficiency and their size in relation to operational needs require periodic inspections. Boilers fired with non-renewable liquid or solid fuel and having a rated effective output of at least 100 kW are inspected at least once every two years. Boilers fired with non-renewable liquid or solid fuel and having a rated effective output of between 20 and 100 kW, on the other hand, need to be checked once every four years. Gas-fired boilers are also inspected every four years.
Interestingly, heating systems with boilers having an effective output of more than 20 kW that have been in use for over 15 years—the period is calculated from the date shown on the boiler's rating plate—must undergo a one-time inspection covering their energy efficiency, the selection of the boiler size and an assessment of the parameters of the entire system. It is also checked whether the boiler is suited to the function it is intended to perform. This inspection should be carried out in the year following the completion of 15 years of use of the boiler.
Who carries out periodic building inspections?
All periodic building inspections may be carried out exclusively by persons holding the appropriate building qualifications in this field.
It is therefore worth remembering that inspections of the technical condition of gas, electrical and lightning protection installations, or refrigeration equipment may be carried out only by persons holding the qualifications required to supervise the operation of gas and electrical equipment, installations or networks. The same applies to chimney flues. Their technical condition is checked by persons holding master qualifications in the chimney-sweeping trade. This applies both to the inspection of smoke flues and to gravity ventilation or flue-gas ducts.