After enough first-time audits, the same five defects turn up often enough that we can predict most of them before we climb the ladder.
- 01Loose clamps — mechanical connections that were never checked for torque after installation, or that have worked loose with thermal cycling.
- 02Lost test joints — the link intended for isolating the electrode for testing, buried, painted over or removed entirely during other works.
- 03Painted-over bonds — a bonding connection coated during repainting, which quietly breaks continuity without anyone noticing.
- 04Missing separation — new services routed too close to the down conductor without the clearance the standard requires.
- 05Undocumented additions — rooftop plant or cabling added after handover with no record of whether it was ever assessed.
None of these are expensive to fix individually. Left long enough, though, each one erodes the system’s actual performance below what the original design intended — quietly, and without anything visibly changing from the ground.
Catching them on a first audit is normal, not alarming. What matters is closing them and setting a maintenance interval that catches the next five before they accumulate.