Previous situation

The obligation to carry out inspections pre-dates D.P.R. 462/01 and was previously laid down by D.P.R. 547 of 1955.

Putting into service

Before D.P.R. 462/01 entered into force, putting installations into operation was carried out through an initial inspection at the employer’s expense. Subsequently, within thirty days of putting them into operation, the employer had to send the application for homologation of the installations together with certain models to ASL/ISPESL (Models A, B, C).

The employer could then put the installations into service without waiting for homologation by ISPESL or ASL/ARPA (depending on the areas of competence) and was not responsible for delays caused by staff shortages in the bodies responsible for checks.

Biennial periodic inspections were carried out by ASL/ARPA for all three types of installation.

The following articles of D.P.R. no. 547 of 27 April 1955 governed inspection activity (original Italian text):

art. 40 : “Le installazioni ed i dispositivi di protezione contro le scariche atmosferiche devono essere periodicamente controllati e comunque almeno una volta ogni due anni, per accertarne lo stato di efficienza “;

art. 328: “ Gli impianti di messa a terra devono essere verificati prima della messa in servizio e periodicamente ad intervalli non superiori a due anni, allo scopo di accertarne la stato di efficienza. Per le officine e cabine elettriche, le verifiche periodiche …….. devono essere eseguite almeno ogni cinque anni, tranne nei casi di impianti di messa a terra artificiali per i quali rimane fermo l'intervallo di due anni “;

art. 336 : “ Le installazioni elettriche previste dagli articoli 330 e 332 ( antideflagranti ) devono essere sottoposte a verifica almeno una volta ogni due anni.