Legal requirement for PAT testing?

[Desie]

I have just read the archive and don't get an answer to this question.

Can anyone tell me if there is a legal requirement to have appliances ina domestic rented property PAT tested?

How does this apply to HMOs?

Ta!

 

[industryspark]

dont think PAT testing is a legal requirment in any situation is it?

think its all to do with the electricity at work act and health and safety. these include requirments for the person responsible to keep, in this case appliances in a safe and usable state.

so how do you prove this....well one way is to have things PAT tested. its all about discharging your responsibility's and showing that every effort has been made to keep things safe.

 

[Pensdown]

dont think PAT testing is a legal requirment in any situation is it?.

No it's not, in any situation

think its all to do with the electricity at work act and health and safety. these include requirments for the person responsible to keep, in this case appliances in a safe and usable state..

So unless the domestic property is a "place of work" the electricity at work act doesn't apply.

so how do you prove this....well one way is to have things PAT tested. its all about discharging your responsibility's and showing that every effort has been made to keep things safe

Nicely put

PS, did you find the risk sheets useful?

 

[Paul Barker]

I was talking to a guy on a building site who does discos. He needed to prove his stuff was pat tested for a particular venue, so he bought the stickers at WW and stuck them on. It's another farce.

 

[Diyisfun]

I was talking to a guy on a building site who does discos. He needed to prove his stuff was pat tested for a particular venue, so he bought the stickers at WW and stuck them on. It's another farce.

Only till things go wrong.

 

[Spark123]

PAT testing all boils down to the employer and employee having duties imposed on them under HASWA, also management of health and safety at work regs, PUWER and the EARW.
The eawr requires that all systems be maintained to prevent danger, PAT testing is a form of maintenance as is the visual check before each use.

 

[industryspark]

Pensdown wrote,

Nicely put

i cant take the credit, think i read it somewhere.

pensdown wrote,

PS, did you find the risk sheets useful?

hey pens, forgot about those. i never recieved them, thought you maybe forgot and then i forgot to ask ya again. they dint go in my junk folder either so dunno where they went....... technology eh!

managed to get some off the net though and ive started implementing them at work. my gaffers were sceptical at first but i think they are starting to see the benefits now.

cheers anyway.

 

[securespark]

dont think PAT testing is a legal requirment in any situation is it?.

No it's not, in any situation

think its all to do with the electricity at work act and health and safety. these include requirments for the person responsible to keep, in this case appliances in a safe and usable state..

So unless the domestic property is a "place of work" the electricity at work act doesn't apply.

These two statements contradict each other, don't they?


The EWA 1989 is enforcable by law. Any Act followed by a year is.

 

[industryspark]

paul barker wrote

I was talking to a guy on a building site who does discos. He needed to prove his stuff was pat tested for a particular venue, so he bought the stickers at WW and stuck them on. It's another farce.

i remember the guy who took me for my 2391 course was once turned away from a PAT testing course that HE was teaching because his laptop's PAT test was out of date. the company who's employees he was giving the course to point blank refused to let him bring his laptop on site hence him having to go home!

think PAT testing is usefull and essential in certain environments but there is always going to be some who take it too far...... unfortunetly its a sign of the compensation culture we live in. everybody's trying to cover there ar*e's!

 

[industryspark]

securespark

yeah agreed the electricity at work act is enforceable by law.

but PAT testing isnt, its just a way of showing that you've made an effort to make things safe...... thus doing enough to avoid prosecution..... hopefully.

its all about covering yourself in the event something does go wrong..... oh and most insurance companys demand it of employers!

 

[Spark123]

To be pedantic, isn't it the "Electricity at Work Regulations 1989?"

 

[industryspark]

spark 123,

To be pedantic, isn't it the "Electricity at Work Regulations 1989?"

yes spark, very true and very pedantic!

but worth pointing out. must get out of the habit of using slang terms for such things!

 

[mattylad]

Bringing up an old thread, does anyone know if things have changed for PAT testing requirements?

Am I right in thinking that for an individual (not an employer) in their own time who gives away an electrical item does not have any legal requirement to have it PAT tested?
That's freely giving away an item for no return, no trade, no money.

Mattylad.

 

[tim west]

The end user(not necessarily a technical person) at a place of work is partially responsible to visually check the equipment is safe to use you could argue that the giving of the equipment makes it now their responsibility and how are you expected to know if it will be used in a place of work? Where it then becomes the responsibilityof the company or business that now owns it.

 

[mattylad]

No work, no companies, no businesses involved.

Is it solely the domain of an "employer" or can it apply to a domestic householder in any way?