PAT – Portable Appliance Test

[Robert Atkinson 2Participant @robertatkinson2]

As this thred has drifted,
Many years ago a company I worked for sold machines across the world and kept stocks of molded IEC leads with various international mains plugs. The Accounts / Legal bod insiste we had to use a contractor for PA testing, They came in over the weekend and amongst other things went through several bins of brand new, sealed in bag, leads and cur the plugs off and fitted 13A plugs. They didn't blow anything up as they were using a cheap, battery operated basic continuity tester with no calibration. We had two top or the range, dual voltage Seward testers used for tesing new machines but the contractor convinced them we could not do it ourselves.
Needless to say they were not paid for the weekends work and were sent a bill for replacement leads.

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

Posted by Martin 100 on 01/01/2021 18:36:14:

Posted by Phil Whitley on 01/01/2021 15:40:49:

Given that a "portable appliance" is

An appliance of less than 18 kg in mass that is intended to be moved while in operation or an appliance which can easily be moved from one place to another, e.g. toaster, food mixer, vacuum cleaner, fan heater.

Got a link to UK legislation or an HSE document that actually states that?

if you google pat testing, definition of portable appliance, you get this under the HSE https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=pat+testing%2C+definition+of+portable+appliance

[Phil WhitleyParticipant @philwhitley94135]

'll just add to that , Pat testers charge per test, as has been said above, and therefore have a financial incentive to bend the regulations and claim that they apply to as many things as possible. There are no statistics produced to show that PAT testing ever avoided a single workplace accident, Which are and have been at an extremely low level for many years now. when first introduced, my local jobcentre was using the then current "Back to work grant" to buy a pat tester and a 2 day course for the long term unemployed to get them off their books! Add to that that most of the companies set up to milk this cash cow folded within months of inception, and you begin to get a handle on how interested parties become lobbyists for the introduction of new legislation to in order to "curb the rising tide of workplace electrical accidents" and thus create a marketplace for their equipment or service. They then ensure that the specifications are changed every couple of years in order that all the operators have to purchase new equipment if they wish to continue testing, and thus the "industry" implodes, and the lobbyists look to creating more money out of milking some sector that they can foist more unneccasary legislation onto. This is why it is a bad idea to allow equipment manufacturers to have a hand in drafting IET regs, their only motive is profit, not safety!

[noel shelleyParticipant @noelshelley55608]

SPOT ON Phil ! Noel

[Martin 100Participant @martin100]

Posted by Phil Whitley on 02/01/2021 12:56:03:

Posted by Martin 100 on 01/01/2021 18:36:14:

Posted by Phil Whitley on 01/01/2021 15:40:49:

Given that a "portable appliance" is

An appliance of less than 18 kg in mass that is intended to be moved while in operation or an appliance which can easily be moved from one place to another, e.g. toaster, food mixer, vacuum cleaner, fan heater.

Got a link to UK legislation or an HSE document that actually states that?

if you google pat testing, definition of portable appliance, you get this under the HSE https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=pat+testing%2C+definition+of+portable+appliance

There are plenty of pat testing/training companies sprouting the same 18kg definition you quoted but absolutely nothing from the HSE or in UK legislation

[Author]

Posts