Electrical Safety Testing and Office Safety

PAT (or portable appliance testing) for electrical items has been a source of debate since the Electricity at Work were introduced in the late 1980’s. During 2012 the HSE has finally explicitly stated that in their estimation UK business could be spending £30 million a year on unrequired tests.

The Electricity at Work Regulsations introduced during the late 1980’s were always primarily intended as Regulation for electrical working (electricians, engineers, maintenance staff) whilst setting out general common sense principles for electrical safety that would affect all business.

The seemingly obvious requirement that employers should ensure electrical equipment was maintained to ensure it remained safe kicked off what became big business – namely PAT testing.

Now for larger companies with mixed equipment – the somewhat overkill but simple to manage system of testing everything annually became the norm. This quickly spread to become perceived as “law” – somewhat encouraged by some suppliers.

Now to be fair the HSE has said its not required in the past – but sometimes clarity isn’t civil servants strongpoint and their statements got lost amidst the need to risk assess and base testing on your risk assessment – at which point most business decided sticking with the status quo was the simplest option. And the world immediately forgot the message the HSE tried to deliver.

But somehow we all survive at home without PAT testing the TV each year – so with the present climate of health and safety gone mad this year the HSE have been far more explicit as part of the present governments occasional crusade against H&S red tape. Clearly stating that £30 million a year was wasted and pledging new guidance this year.

The other factor which has influenced the new clarity I suspect is that 2012 is quite differant from 1988. We all treat electrical goods as VAPE SHOP IN SHARJAH “disposable” in 2012 – in 1988 you tried to get them fixed due to the costs. With kettles costing less than a packet of cigarettes today the days of amateur repairs are gone.

Finally RCD’s are all but everywhere today certainly in business environments – so risk is actually managed back at the switchboard for most low risk premises.

So for most low risk business here’s the simple solution:

Buy from reputable suppliers
Make sure its visually (ie: look to see if the case is broken, the lead is damaged, the plug damaged and the like – if you can see an obvious problem then fix ore replace it – actually its 2012 so just replace it – it’ll be cheaper) and make sure users report any problems they notice. None of this needs an electrician.
Modern goods are sold with moulded plugs so the old issue of well meaning staff with screwdrivers making repairs has largely gone. Now so long as the fuse is replaced correctly their is little else users can intefere with. Obviously make sure you there’s some control over replacing fuses otherwise everything will be 13A.