I had an email this morning, that there is a PAT tester in the area who wants to come in and check all of our electrical appliances for 90p per device, including computers, which will be a visual check and won't need to be switched off.
For anyone that doesn't know, PAT testing (Portable Appliance Testing) is something that's done in the UK and a couple of other countries, and no doubt there are variations of this in other countries, where inspections are done periodically into a businesses electrical appliances.
I must admit, I don't know very much about it, and we do seem to get a lot of people wanting to come and tell us if our laptops are safe or not, but had no idea if it was some kind of legal requirement.
Had a dig around, and found an article on the UK Health & Safety Executive website, and the way I read it, we just need to make sure we check for obvious signs of damage or problems, rather than having a formal inspection?
"HSE’s advice is that for most office electrical equipment, visual checks for obvious signs of damage and perhaps simple tests by a competent member of staff are quite sufficient."
Myth: All office equipment must be tested anually
So as long as I'm happy all of our appliances are ok, then I assume I don't need a PAT tester to come in and tell me the same thing?
Or is there a legal requirement depending on a type of business?
I'd be a mite suspicious of anyone I didn't know coming on to my premises to carry out an inspection service I wasn't sure I needed .....thumbsdown Linda CareersPartnershipUK
It's called a license to print money, you don't even have to be an electrician to carry out the test, as long as you've done the course. Chances are though if anything were wrong with an electrical appliance either the fuse would have blown or it would have gone bang way before the PAT inspection. All it does is to check whether the polarity and earthing is correct, no more than that. "Is your computer working?" "Yes" ......"Great it's passed then, that's 90p please!" I would also like to point out that in London where everyone expects to get ripped off you can get PAT testing done for 25p per unit....So you were done  Thanks, Barney
“It's called a license to print money, you don't even have to be an electrician to carry out the test, as long as you've done the course.” Pretty much what we suspected The gaffer tape holding the kettle together needs replacing, but the plugs fine 
We just had our PAT done. 6 out of 46 items failed. The testes were carried out using a PAT device and physical checks. One failure, a kettle, failed the internal PAT test, we looked into it and found the kettle was sometimes live!!! We also had the microwave emission test done, that failed, the cause...a lump of food wedged behind the door seal, easy to fix, but something I wouldn't have checked, but this type of fault allows microwave emissions out...that cant be good for you! It cost 0.59p, money well spent. I could do my own accounts (I am trained), but use an accountant to ensure no mistakes and no tax fines, why do my own electrics? As a reasonable employer, I want to show the staff are looked after, if I don't do PAT testing, and something goes wrong, staff take me to court and the first question will be...prove you took electrical safety at work seriously...and I do have evidence which only cost £27 for one year....come on....its not just not worth the legal risk...but what about your duty of care to your employees? Ed
“We just had our PAT done. 6 out of 46 items failed. The testes were carried out using a PAT device and physical checks.
One failure, a kettle, failed the internal PAT test, we looked into it and found the kettle was sometimes live!!!” That's a fair point. My beef is that a lot of business owners are mistakenly told it is a legal requirement, which it appears it's not. Agree 100% employers have a duty of care, common sense visual checks should be as a matter of course. Any device that goes live should pop a fuse, so a bit alarming about the live kettle! But as a counter argument £27 to ensure your employees are safe and you have ticked the box if something did happen you can't really argue with. But then maybe it should be mandatory and maybe we should have it done at home? Think I'll go and look at our kettle!
Another good point was the microwave, to see the emission counter go off the end of the scale when the microwave switched on and then after cleaning the seal the meter stayed in the "green" was a good lesson, I just wonder what happens when these emissions get out next to us (especially when you are looking in the glass door to see how its cooking!) Some people on the internet seem to think its actually quite dangerous and not something pregnant women would want. Ed
“ Some people on the internet seem to think its actually quite dangerous and not something pregnant women would want.”
I'll confess to being a bit OCD about microwaves, and refuse to have one in the house which a few people find odd Haven't quite got to the stage of banning mobiles and wireless routers... But have certainly gone full circle on PAT testing... Maybe it's not such a bad idea regardless of not being mandatory.
I couldn't live without a microwave....... If you saw the Mrs cooking you'd understand why. Yet she has all of Mary Berry's, Jamie Oliver's, Keith Floyd and god knows who else books a brand new oven and hob plus an all singing all dancing Kenwood food mixer. And all I get when I get home an ask where my dinner is, answer is always the same.... 'In the microwave dear' whilst chomping on another Ferrero Rocher... Thanks, Barney
When i was working in the worst job of all time...Cash Converters...every single item that required a plug absolutely had to be PAT tested. There was a machine on the premises and after about 5 minutes training from someone higher up we did all the PAT testing ourselves using the machine. They said it was a 100% legal requirement that all electrical items had a sticker on it saying it had been tested, and when it was tested. Thanks, Kempres |
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