Cheers for that, Its tools and stuff we use in plumbing and heating in a domestic enviroment. Most of the drills we use are battery operated but still have a couple of electric drills, jigsaws, reciptro saw and rip snorter. When I heard every 3 months when it used to be yearly to me is extreme. I'll check out the publication out and thanks again.
D
As a start when first testing without any history I would select 3 months for electric drills, jigsaws, reciptro saw and rip snorter. That is the recommended time for construction equipment.
One of the problems with drills, grinders, etc. Is they may well spend 3 years sitting in a stores and then 2 weeks intensive use. So to work out a time period using history is not always best method.
The legal position is it must be safe to use. As a manager you need to adopt a system to ensure any unsafe equipment is taken out of service. There is nothing to say you must do it in any particular way. For example a shop may get all tested on one day of the year and it would not need to use any stickers. Or you could have a stores system where every item is re-tested before re-issue. But once you depart from the recommendations given in the "Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment" then you need to show you have done a risk assessment and have determined this was the most appropriate method for your equipment. In the main this is problematic and to follow the "Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment" is far the easiest approach.
I have taken over the In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment many times. And am appalled at how many times when I ask for the equipment register I find it does not exist. (That's form V1.1) Even more often the Form V1.5 Faulty equipment register does not exist.
The IET produce as a free download the forms
here first section is for installation the second section is for PAT testing. In the main electricians will use some similar layout often software provided by the machine manufacturer often which will auto down load from the machine. I used the Robin version for many years which could print out the completed forms.
The problem with most computer held records is using VB or other software it is often possible to alter records. So as a company we would always print the short form and the guy doing the testing would sign it. This was then filled and the expiry year printed on the file. We hoped there would never be a need to view the paper records. However if something did go wrong we could show the HSE it was tested and by whom. No one could claim it was not them and some one else must have used the machine and not entered their personal code. Because we all knew the paper version existed we would never try to fiddle records. So they were never looked at once printed.
However I have seen where a new ID is given every time an item is re-tested. How anyone can ever show a trend with a different ID every time I don't know. I would guess the whole idea is that it is hard to trace and they hope if there is a problem they can wangle out of it because of the poor records. We have all heard about it. When one rings up the firm and complains about the workmanship we get "We had to let that guy go" and be assured it will not happen again. We all know the method of if it looks OK and no one is watching just stick on a new label.
Using top of range Robin tester in a mixed workshop and office environment recording all the details asked in the Robin software one can expect between 100 and 150 items tested and recorded in an 8 hour day. Some other testers may be slower or quicker according to how long it takes to complete the self test every time it is plugged in. And of course how many times it has to be unplugged and plugged back in.
However when one sees 300 to 500 items per day tested this must ring alarm bells. As a manager you would be failing in your job if you accepted 500 items per day tested without some explanation as to how so many could be tested so quick. Yes it does happen. I was shown to a store cupboard filled with lead sets (Name of the power lead which connects computer to mains) and I was able to rattle through them. But this is unusual.
