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Inspection precedes testing, and defects are corrected firstWhen must a defect be put right?

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Inspection precedes testing

BS 7671 · Reg 642.1 — inspection shall precede testing

And the part of the installation being inspected must be disconnected from the supply while you do it.

✋Including when you add a circuit to a live board. Bringing a brand new circuit into an existing consumer unit means the main switch comes off. People do run cable back from the far end and only isolate at the moment they drop it into the board. Do not.

You also need to know what you are checking against: the inspector must have adequate information about the design — what the designer specified.

PageWhat you are verifying
GN3 · p.21The fixed installation is correctly selected and erected, taking account of manufacturers' instructions
GN3 · p.22The fixed installation is not physically damaged, and is ready for use as planned

Defects: correct them before you test

Any defect or non-conformity — with Guidance Note 3, with BS 7671, or with the manufacturer's instructions — is corrected prior to testing.

Reg 643.1: when a test shows a failure, that test and those preceding, the results of which may have been influenced by the fault, are repeated after the fault has been put right. Stated plainly: if a cable has been pulled out and a new one pulled in, do the continuity testing again. There is no sensible argument for not testing it.
When a test may legitimately be deferred. If carrying it out would impair safety — at height where it is not safe to do so, or live where you are not trained for it — it may have to be done at a different time, or by someone else.
Departures are allowed on most things, but not on everything. For example BS 7671 · Reg 411.3.3 · p.72 requires 30 mA RCD protection for socket-outlets rated up to 32 A — in any premises, not only domestic — and for mobile equipment up to 32 A used outdoors. Its one exception covers only item (b), socket-outlets in other locations, and needs a documented risk assessment by a skilled person. An RCD socket-outlet is not a way round it: it is one way of providing the protection. Know which requirements are firm and which permit a departure.

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