Hi,

Sorry that this is off topic, but I know a lot of electricians and
other people who know electrical regulations are here!

A mean employer near here denied staff the use of fans during the hot
weather claiming that the fans could not be used until they were PAT
tested.

This seems ironic because the employer was selling the same fans to
its customers. If they were safe enough for the customers to use out
of the box, you would have thought that they were safe enough for the
employees to use too!

My employer (not the one above) sent me on a H&S course some time ago
and PAT was mentioned briefly and I thought we were told that new
appliances did not need to be tested whilst within the first year
because there was an assumption that new goods were fit for purpose.
However I don't remember exactly what was said as it was not relevant
to my role at the time.

I've just been to the HSE web site and its faqs:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/fa...ce-testing.htm

suggest that not only do new appliances not need to be tested before
use, there is no requirement for an annual check either and it implies
a common sense approach that depending on use, some equipment should
be checked more often than others.

So why do companies insist on checking annually? Is this just to cover
themselves if sued they could show regular checks were being made?

How does PAT testing work in your experience?

TIA