Electrical products safety testing

[PeterF]

I would be interested to hear about members thoughts & actions on having electrical
equipment tested in holiday let property. Do you test annualy as is required with gas
appliances or make do with a visual check.

[this subject is covered in the Hazards in the Workplace section of Accommodation Know-How under Health and Safety - note from the Moderator]

[Jules]

Hi

You have to, by law, have all portable electrical appliances checked by a registered electrician once a year. This is called PAT testing and it covers anything with a plug that could be picked up and moved easily (i.e. not integrated fridges). The electrician will be registered to do PAT testing. You should display the certificate in the property (in the guest information file), just like the Landlord's Gas Safety Certificate.

You should also have the electrical wiring installation in the property checked every 5 years by a registered electrician, who will issue a certificate for that too.

If you equip a property with 100% brand new electrical items, then PAT testing is not mandatory until they are a year old, as they are deemed to have been adequately tested at the point of production. This is the same as gas servicing, the landlord's certificate is not required until the boiler or gas appliance is 1 year old.

Jules

Coquet Cottages (http://www.coquetcottages.co.uk/)

[Sheila]

I would be interested to hear about members thoughts & actions on having electrical
equipment tested in holiday let property. Do you test annualy as is required with gas
appliances or make do with a visual check.
We had everything the first year and the second year wondered whether it really needed it again so soon. In the end decided to have it done. Two washing machines failed - one was showing burn marks on the circuit board and could have caught fire. Now we have them PAT tested each year without fail

[jennyhicks]

I think more people are aware of appliance testing now. I have all my appliances tested each year now that I had 3 things fail the first time, quite a shock really. I would always make sure that the PAT testing equipment is calibrated by asking your electrician. This item of advice was agiven to me by my friend who owns http://www.lambda-cal.co.uk a calibration testing lab.

[Phil & Rick Cumbria]

It is my understanding that you do not have to be a Qualified Electrician to undertake PAT Testing. You are required to be a competent person. We have our appliances tested yearly by a friend who has PAT Testing equipment and knows how to use it. In return we give him a couple of free nights B&B. You can do it yourself, and a PAT tester is around £200, which about the same as an electrician charges, so in the long run you can save money by doing it yourself, or get a friend to do it for you.
Part of the new fire saftey order does require testing of all portable appliances, but it says by a competant person, not an electrician.

[Martin_Sach_CE_EASCO]

It is not accurate to say that you have to have PAT testing done by an electrician once a year. You have to provide safe equipment. PAT testing can be done by a "competent person" who is not an electrician. (I used to do it myself as a health and safety officer, I had some training to do PAT testing but was never an electrician). How you go about ensuring that all your equipment is safe is up to you but having them tested once a year is a pretty good way of meeting the law's requirements. Visual inspection more often is of course very desirable too.

[joyful]

On my PAT testing I was truly astonished when the authorised to do it electrican found holes in irons that customers had obviously dropped and broken/chipped and just put back in the wardrobe facing the good side around!!!! Checking irons on a daily basis hadn't occurred to me. As a result of this I have now replaced the normal irons with small metal travel irons that can take a bit of punishment. I was truly taken back when he presented me with 2 irons that were not suitable for use!! Good for him. Stopped a future "claim" coming in!!!!

[Martin_Sach_CE_EASCO]

The story about the irons posted by joyful makes a hugely important point. The most important thing you can do is look at your kit regularly! Visual inspection is easy and faults are very often obvious, like holes in irons, or damaged wires or plugs.

[greenbarncottages]

I'd endorse a couple of points here.
First, as a couple of posters have stated, PAT testing does not require an electrician, it requires a "competent person".
Second point, from the last post, is the value of the eyeball test. Anyone can spot a piece of equipment that is damaged in such a way that it might be possible to touch live parts, and anyone can spot a plug where the wires could pull out, or a frayed lead. These checks require no equipment, and it's worth pointing out that for many items of equipment in Class II the PAT test is no more than a visual check.

As with most H&S issues, the main ingredient is common sense, but many will try and convince you otherwise.

BTW - hands up all those who know how to wire a three pin plug. Now put your hand down if you didn't know that the earth wire should have slack in it such that it would be the last wire to pull out under strain.

[Schofields]

As martin & greenbarn have commented "The most important thing you can do is look at your kit regularly!" to spot loose wires and dangerous appliances etc.

If a guest was to injure themselves and sue, it is likely that they would have to prove that you were negligent.

If you are not providing safe equipment, then the odds could be against you.

Philip

[imported_]

After spotting a damaged iron in our holiday cottages, I decided to look into PAT testing to see what it involves.
Whilst it is not specifically mentioned as a legal requirement there is a lot of legislation that makes it clear that employers and even staff are resonsible for the safety of others and this includes the provision of electrical equipment.
You must ensure that electrical equipment is safe and you can only do this by regular inspection. Only a competant person ~who has been properly trained ~ can check equipment. This should be done in accordance with the IET code of practice. Unless you are a qualified electrician you will need to attend a course that will show you how to do the visual and electronic testing properly.
Yes, you can buy a cheep tester for around £200 that will show a simple pass or fail result ~ but there is a possibility it could fail a perfectly good appliance beacuse they do not produce test comprehensive results. It is also very possible that you will not be carrying out a proper visual check and recording the results properly.
A city and guilds qualification, a PAT machine worth having, a microwave emisions tester (M/w tests now included in PAT testing)and the pass / fail labels / log books to record the results will cost you well over £700.00.
Please also remember that it is very time consuming to do a formal visual inspection and electrical test and then keep the proper records.
Keeping records is vital incase of an insurance claim or litigation.
Although PAT testing is not rocket science, it does involve a lot more than a casual glance to make sure the cable is not damaged, the plug does not rattle and the handle on the hoover is not wonky!
I think you may agree that unless you run a large business then it is probably better and cheeper (Average cost £1.50 per item) to employ someone who holds at least the CG 2377 qualification and has a properly calibrated machine.
IF you decide to DIY and cannot prove you are competant i.e properly trained and using a calibrated machine then you may not be doing the job properly. Someone could get hurt so you could have problems if you end up in court or try to make an insurance claim.
Hope this helps anyone considering the topic

[joyful]

You are absolutely correct. I too had damaged irons which the customer had carefully concealed. All elec equipment that customers and staff touch has to be PAT tested. It is relatively inexpensive, can be claimed back on tax and keeps everyone safe.