I do find failed items can be a problem. Once failed it has to go into quarantine until repaired, there was a huge notice on the wire mesh gate to electricians compound. "This is a quarantine area not items must be removed from this area." and before I could allow anything out it had to be re-tested and the plant number on the quarantine register marked to show it had been reissued and it had to be re-entered on the equipment register. In other words there was a good paper trail.
It we had done some thing like replace the plug that was easy, but it some one took it out of service because there was no earth, and on investigation it was found to be class II then there is a problem, you have to prove the other tester was wrong. Same in reverse find that the mag mount drill is not class II even when it has the double square then you are saying all the testers before you got it wrong. What had happened was the drill was class II but the mount was class I. I wrote mag mount changed in the equipment register to explain why it was now class I rather than point the finger at all those before. Every item had it's own plant number which never changed.
I got into trouble with the HSE on one job because there was not a quarantine notice on the door of the electricians workshop, I also got in trouble for leaving it unlocked, however it turned out the extension lead in question had not been removed from my workshop but the fitters workshop so I didn't end up in court. But until then I had never thought about having to put up notices or lock the door.
I walk around other premises and see failed stickers, why? It it has failed it needs to be put in quarantine and locked away, so why bother with a sticker? I red failed sticker means "This item is not up to the prescribed standard but you are expected to continue using it when no one is looking." Where due to size you can't take it into quarantine then you lock it off and place a notice on it to stop anyone removing the lock. Many I know cut the plug off, I use a tie wrap to hold something over the plug pins so it can't be plugged in if a moulded plug, the covers you find on new equipment plugs are great, you need a tool to remove them once tie wrapped on so that is to my mind good enough.
I tried to find stickers, and failed that say passed and failed in both English and Welsh, having the Pass in English only OK, but fail would have to be bilingual.
