Genius

[bump]

In my last place we had "John the Electrician" who would come in once a year and PAT test everything. I realised, after a while, that he'd never approached us to get a time to shut the kit down in the server room (eight racks and over a million quid of kit) to test them. Wouldn't have been a problem as everything was redundant, we'd just need to be available to ensure the right kit was turned off while its partner would keep running.

So I asked how he tested them and his response was "I just looked at them and they seemed ok". It gets better: when I went into the room he'd put "TESTED" stickers on all the power-cord plugs - not on the kit itself

We don't do comms room PAT testing of equipment (as agreed by the insurers and electrical inspection company). All kit is replaced at 36 months of age. They agreed that it wasn't really portable. i.e. once installed it's not going anywhere until it's decommissioned, so no wear and tear on flexes, the plugs aren't even moved from the PDU's.

 

[Welderpaul]

We have a few of those but the leads are only 100mm long or so - Used for dual voltage battery chargers.

I do know of someone who had a load of 240V power tools but wanted to use them on site. He took a standard 110V tranny and ran the 240 straight through and wired to the sockets. Swapped all his 240V plugs for yellow 110V so to the outsider it looks like all is well. Until someone borrowed one of his tools....

 

[voipio]

The HSE's take on portable appliance testing needing to be done every year is this:

"The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually)."

And on the question: Is PAT testing compulsory?

"No. The law simply requires an employer to ensure that their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger. It does not say how this should be done or how often. Employers should take a risk-based approach, considering the type of equipment and what it is being used for. If it is used regularly and moved a lot e.g. a floor cleaner or a kettle, testing (along with visual checks) can be an important part of an effective maintenance regime giving employers confidence that they are doing what is necessary to help them meet their legal duties. HSE provides guidance on how to maintain equipment including the use of PAT."

 

[GW8IZR]

We use these adaptors for multi voltage test kit that has its own proprietary power blocks OTDR,

I had pretty much the same in my old field kit, most of my kit had IEC connections and ran of either 240 / 110 so I had many leads with many ends.

 

[HockeyNomad]

I had pretty much the same in my old field kit, most of my kit had IEC connections and ran of either 240 / 110 so I had many leads with many ends.

Sometimes the job just needs done, and standing there asking for an adaptor when your being charged out at silly rates after being flown halfway across the world, seems unprofessional at best.

 

[GW8IZR]

Sometimes the job just needs done, and standing there asking for an adaptor when your being charged out at silly rates after being flown halfway across the world, seems unprofessional at best.

Did one of the political events and needed a 240v router on a rooftop, the kit was 240v only and the site H&S chap wouldn't allow it plugged into the wall socket.. so it had to be plugged into a 110v traffo and a maplin 110 to 240 inverter plugged into that.. 'thats the ticket..' There was more risk from some poor sniper falling over the traffo in the dark..

 

[AdrianH]

The HSE's take on portable appliance testing needing to be done every year is this:

"The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don't make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually)."

And on the question: Is PAT testing compulsory?

"No. The law simply requires an employer to ensure that their electrical equipment is maintained in order to prevent danger. It does not say how this should be done or how often. Employers should take a risk-based approach, considering the type of equipment and what it is being used for. If it is used regularly and moved a lot e.g. a floor cleaner or a kettle, testing (along with visual checks) can be an important part of an effective maintenance regime giving employers confidence that they are doing what is necessary to help them meet their legal duties. HSE provides guidance on how to maintain equipment including the use of PAT."

Thank you for posting that, PAT testing is a band wagon many companies jumped on to make money, saying that in law everything had to be tested every 12 months etc etc. then they would have a fixed cost to test per item and every Computer would include 4 items, two mains leads one base and one screen.

It was the HSE that at one time sent out a message to companies via webcast to say the above. In the company I work at we looked at this and looked at all our fixed installations such as servers, bench test equipment etc and they now gets tested every 3 years officially. We have equipment that goes to site such as radio test sets and these are tested every 12 months as part of a calibration. Then we also have battery drills and chargers, and some 110Volt gear that will get tested as we know we need to use it, but will also get included with the 3 years test all. All this was put to BSI that audit us for ISO18001 and guess what, they had no issues with our plans, it fitted in with the type of work we did and there was a bit of confirmation that it had been taken a bit to far by lots of companies but they needed to look at it from there own perspective.

As to the adapter in the opening post we have one similar to that with 110 Volt plug one end and an IEC female at the other, all pat tested and gets used as a regular item, as others have said a lot of electronics are either duel voltage selectable or 90 to 240 volts automatic, some of the Trams we check out had 110Volt supplies on board, many newer ones have 240 Volts so it allows testing of the radio kit for us on trams.

Adrian

 

[bs2236]

All of our field service engineers have these so they can charge their laptops from the 115v supply on board ship. seem to be fairly common to be honest.

 

[evobilly666]

There is absolutely NO legal requirement or time scale for PAT testing. The requirements are PUWER and the Electricity at work regs. Neither make PAT testing a legal requirement. The onus is on the employer to provide equipment that is safe to use. I work in a quarry and we adhere so some of the strictest regulations out there. Much more involved than the mines and factories act. PAT testing is a way of recording that you are monitoring your equipment. An HSE inspector asked me how frequently we PAT test, and I replied annually. He asked why. He stated that maybe a computer monitor that never moves or gets interfered with could be done once every three years. A drill kicking around a dirty workshop may benefit from being tested quarterly. PAT testing is important as a judge in court will look at records and know an employer has considered its employees safety but please don't think that once a year is all it needs or that everything has to be tested every year. Look at the appliance and how it is used.

 

[HockeyNomad]

The landlord in my local spoke to me about pat testing as he knew I'd done a bit before, I told him that there was no requirement for annually testing the kit, he said well it's the insurance that want it done annually. so I think that's probably the real driver behind this annual pat testing mantra that's taken over people's lives.

 

[evobilly666]

Absolutely agree with that, our insurance insist on it as well as sending an inspector out to check our chains, pressure vessels, steam cleaners and plant machinery. My point more than anything was that with things like grinders and drills, a lot of damage can occur in a month, nevermind a year and is this frequent enough to truly cover liability. Failing PAT testing, at least a defect reporting system to identify damaged cords or missing guards, excessive vibration or broken covers should be in place

 

[RustyBus]

We have a few of those but the leads are only 100mm long or so - Used for dual voltage battery chargers.

I do know of someone who had a load of 240V power tools but wanted to use them on site. He took a standard 110V tranny and ran the 240 straight through and wired to the sockets. Swapped all his 240V plugs for yellow 110V so to the outsider it looks like all is well. Until someone borrowed one of his tools....

Borrowing his tools would be disappointing. Borrowing his transformer would be another matter!

 

[evobilly666]

This all sounds silly to most I know, but a very well known national building merchant has recently been fined in the millions due to a freak accident. A lorry driver was securing his load using ratchet straps as many of us have, many times. As he pulled on the handle, the strap failed, and the driver fell backwards. He was hit by a passing truck and killed. Do you see liability to the company as the HSE did. PUWER states that all equipment used for the job must be in a good safe condition. There was no daily inspection record for the strap that broke so blame automatically went to the company involved. How many here are that comprehensive with their checks and inspections, never mind the recording of these tests.

 

[The_Yellow_Ardvark]

@evobilly666
PAT testing is only valid at the time of test. Like an MOT.

Your car can past an MOT at 9am and 5pm you can be pilled for a defect and that's it.
Yes MOT is valid for a year.

PAT testing is the same. The item under test passed at the time of test.


There is no single law saying PAT testing is to be carried out yearly.
If necessary it can be yearly to each time an item is used.
It is all down to the risk as set out by the sites risk assessment, when was the last time you saw a new whole site risk assessments carried out?

If PAT testing is carried out a yearly test is the minimum it is to be carried out.

A lot of PAT testing is a waste of time.

You get an oink doing a Risk assessment and the question is how can we keep the people safe from electrical shock,
"oh yes PAT testing". We make them do it.

I maintain one site were the operators are responsible for daily inspection of their elec. power tools. failure to report is classed as a disciplinary matter. Worse if you get caught using the tool.

I know off one place were each time a electrical item is signed from stores, they run it through a PAT tester.

But sadly over the years since 1973 when it was first introduced the real reason has been lost, regulations have never caught up with advances in technology.

Worse still the insurance companies have jumped on the band waggon and insist on having it done.

In the past I have tested items what never will move, a whole host of nightmares to items were it failed a test. On site team fixed it. I tested it only to see the operator remove the cover of the plug and steel the fuse.

 

[wookie]

Working at Marinas I sometimes see "interesting" cables, my favourite has to be a 32A blue commando plug with a 16A blue commando socket on the end and no circuit breaker in the middle.

If there is a shortage of 16A sockets available but a spare 32A socket then they'll use said adaptor to plug their 16A supply lead into a 32A socket, I mean what could possibly go wrong ?

^ That was a rhetorical question by the way, I mean it's only a 240Volt supply going to a boat sat in seawater......

 

[Exuptoy]

If you cut off the plastic location pin on the plug body, the yellow plug could be plugged into a blue socket and the lead would be operational on 240v
It's only the location of the earth pin thats different.
Haha. Not that I'd do that of course.

 

[the snooper]

A nightclub owner in Dundee got a decent belt, touched the handryer and got shocked. The dryer was the touchless type and no one generally touched it and because it was screwed to the wall, no one ever bothered testing it for electrical safety (PAT tester decided it wasn't portable so not his gig, sparky doing the EICR didn't test it either as it wasn't part of the fixed wiring...) hence it sat for 15 years...

Shocking

 

[Gareth0123]

A serious question from someone who knows very little about electricity.

Can you get in-line 32amp breakers like this one. I have one these on each of my single phase 13amp extension cables, and it would be nice if I could have one on my 32amp extension lead.

 

[Robotstar5]

A serious question from someone who knows very little about electricity.

Can you get in-line 32amp breakers like this one. I have one these on each of my single phase 13amp extension cables, and it would be nice if I could have one on my 32amp extension lead.

Is it a circuit breaker or RCD?, different functions.

 

[Gareth0123]

See, I told you I know next to nothing about electrickery.

I think it may be an RCD.