Test Equipment
Electrical portable appliances are oſten roughly handled when moved around, operate in a variety of environments and in many instances have more arduous and onerous usage compared to fixed equipment. As a result, at any time a significant proportion of electrical
appliances used in workplaces could require re-testing to ensure that they do not pose a hazard to users.
lFrom previous page Electrical portable appliances are often
roughly handled when moved around, operate in a variety of environments and in many instances have more arduous and onerous usage compared to fixed equipment. As a result, at any time a significant proportion of electrical appliances used in workplaces could require re-testing to ensure that they do not pose a hazard to users.
Horror stories The emphasis on maintaining a safe working
environment is therefore constant and some examples of the sort of horror stories uncovered by periodic inspection and safety test programmes illustrate this point perfectly. For example, one public sector employer insists that all faulty equipment must have the whole lead cut off as close to the appliance as possible. This is the result of an earlier situation when a caretaker rewired a plug onto an appliance that had previously had the plug removed after failing its regular test. The failed but reconnected appliance was then responsible for causing a fire causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. In an engineering company, factory workers
risked their lives by continually replacing a fuse that persistently failed in a power tool with a solid metal bar, rather than highlight the issue and question why the fuse was always blowing. The temporary modification was uncovered during a periodic portable appliance test.
Cable damage Warehouse equipment left around floor
areas can be particularly liable to cable damage from forklifts. In one case, a warehouse operative continued to use an electric drill with exposed wires rather than admit that it had been left out and damaged. Even in offices, employees have been found
to be taping up cracked power packs rather than having them replaced. Elsewhere, in a school laboratory, a safety engineer had to take all the soldering irons out of service after the students had used them to burn through their own plugs.
All of these highly dangerous situations
would not have been detected without the presence of effective visual inspection – including the proper inspection of plugs and fuses – alongside the correct electrical testing procedures with the appropriate test instrument. Of course the need for establishing effective
safety measures has to be balanced against practical aspects; realistic precautions for one organisation might be unacceptable for a larger or different type of business, but there is no substitute for carrying out the work properly whatever the situation. In this respect, the risk assessment advice and emphasis on a common sense approach to safety testing intervals are provided by the HSE and the IET Code of Practice and are invaluable. In particular, the clarification on the roles and
responsibilities of dutyholders and contractors should have the effect of strengthening relationships and introducing higher standards of professionalism in the industry. Unfortunately, an emphasis on cost
reduction and cutting test corners runs the risk of undoing this progress. As a result, anyone engaged in cost efficiency introductions, leading to deliberate short cuts in the type of tests applied, needs to think very clearly about the potential consequences. Where electrical safety is concerned, there is
absolutely no room whatsoever for taking risks, ignoring visual warnings, eliminating tests or adopting dangerous practices.
www.seaward.co.uk
24 | electrical wholesaler March 2015
www.ewnews.co.uk
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