BACK Have Your Electrical System Inspected Consumer Product Safety Commission studies of residential electrical fires show that the majority of serious fires need not have occurred. The conditions that caused the fires probably would have been detected by an electrical inspection. These problems were not detected or corrected because no inspection had been made for several years. In a number of cases investigated by CPSC, homes ranging from 40 to 100 years old had not been inspected since they were built. A safety inspection should be performed by a qualified electrical or licensed electrical inspector. To insure the electrical safety of your home, your electrical inspection should be up-to-date and defects corrected. There are no hard-and-fast rules about frequency of inspection but here are some suggestions: To determine when your electrical system was last inspected, examine the door and cover of your electrical panel(s). The panel should contain a label or tag with a date, a signature, or initials on it. If there is more than one date, the most recent one should be the date of the last inspection. DO NOT remove the service-panel cover. This is a job for a qualified electrician.