Legal requirement for PAT testing?
- Thread starter Desie
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being pedantic, but if you have some work done in your house, you become an employer and the worker is at a place of work
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I have read with interest what has been said about portable appliance testing. One thing that I would point out is items don’t require a label. I could for example go to a shop and issue them with a certificate stating that all items on the equipment register have been tested together with Form V1.2 showing all the reading taken.
And at the end of the day it is the written records that count not the sticker.
At the end of the day one needs to show any electrical equipment is maintained and safe to use from the fixed wiring with the 10 year or change of ownership inspection and test to the washing machine and fridge this could be covered with a policy statement for example changing all appliances when the extended guarantee runs out.
It could then be argued that the manufactures had guaranteed it would last this long.
Portable appliance testing has one big draw back in that most cases washing machines, fridges and freezers are not portable appliances they are too heavy and can’t be tested without some detailed knowledge of the appliance. My freezer at regular intervals switches on heaters to complete an auto de-frost and unless you could test it for 24 hours one could not be sure the auto de-frost function had been tested so the only option is a maintenance contract with the manufacturer or other trained person able to test these functions normally with a PC and interface card able to activate each function for test. It is likely they are never tested and only when it breaks down will they ever come out but by taking on the maintenance contract you shifted the responsibility to them.
I would think most land lords will select an electrician they can trust and give written instructions to the tenants that if they have any problems with anything electrical belonging to the land lord they should contact this person.
Lets face it portable appliance testing is in the main just an administration exercise and when an electrician puts his name to testing 150 items a day any trained managers who understand sections 1 to 8 of the EAWR1989 should realise he could have not possible have tested them all and must be just sticking labels on any which look relatively new. If anything does prove faulty subsequently then it must have happened after it was tested.
So what is the point of that?
Eric
And at the end of the day it is the written records that count not the sticker.
At the end of the day one needs to show any electrical equipment is maintained and safe to use from the fixed wiring with the 10 year or change of ownership inspection and test to the washing machine and fridge this could be covered with a policy statement for example changing all appliances when the extended guarantee runs out.
It could then be argued that the manufactures had guaranteed it would last this long.
Portable appliance testing has one big draw back in that most cases washing machines, fridges and freezers are not portable appliances they are too heavy and can’t be tested without some detailed knowledge of the appliance. My freezer at regular intervals switches on heaters to complete an auto de-frost and unless you could test it for 24 hours one could not be sure the auto de-frost function had been tested so the only option is a maintenance contract with the manufacturer or other trained person able to test these functions normally with a PC and interface card able to activate each function for test. It is likely they are never tested and only when it breaks down will they ever come out but by taking on the maintenance contract you shifted the responsibility to them.
I would think most land lords will select an electrician they can trust and give written instructions to the tenants that if they have any problems with anything electrical belonging to the land lord they should contact this person.
Lets face it portable appliance testing is in the main just an administration exercise and when an electrician puts his name to testing 150 items a day any trained managers who understand sections 1 to 8 of the EAWR1989 should realise he could have not possible have tested them all and must be just sticking labels on any which look relatively new. If anything does prove faulty subsequently then it must have happened after it was tested.
So what is the point of that?
Eric
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The reason that Im asking is that other Freecycle moderators are puzzled over it.
Freecycle is the international recycling organisation trying to geep usable stuff out of landfill, as an example of how it works..
I have an old 28" CRT TV, it still works fine but I'm replacing it with a nice new 50" flat screen TV.
Rather than take the old one to the tip I offer it on Freecycle, someone asks me for it & I choose who to give it to, they come to my house and collect it.
In this situation noone is an employer and nothing is traded, no money or services are passed.
Another situation would be where a community event is held, where a Freecycle table is and members can bring old usable stuff or others to collect.
Still the same, no exchanges, no money, no employers.
Some have been told by trading standards that they need, some have been told that they do not.
So I'm trying to find what laws apply, what legal basis there is for PAT testing if any.
Cheers.
Freecycle is the international recycling organisation trying to geep usable stuff out of landfill, as an example of how it works..
I have an old 28" CRT TV, it still works fine but I'm replacing it with a nice new 50" flat screen TV.
Rather than take the old one to the tip I offer it on Freecycle, someone asks me for it & I choose who to give it to, they come to my house and collect it.
In this situation noone is an employer and nothing is traded, no money or services are passed.
Another situation would be where a community event is held, where a Freecycle table is and members can bring old usable stuff or others to collect.
Still the same, no exchanges, no money, no employers.
Some have been told by trading standards that they need, some have been told that they do not.
So I'm trying to find what laws apply, what legal basis there is for PAT testing if any.
Cheers.
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