A refusal often offends

[wotwozere]

Django

It took years to get pat legislation and 1000s of lives have been saved from this one law.

I was electricuted at the age of 12 and nearly lost my life due to a bear wire on the electric heater.

We need more wireless technology that charges without mains, i seen it on flying edge documentary.

thx

Bob

 

[Django]

Django

It took years to get pat legislation and 1000s of lives have been saved from this one law.

There is no PAT legislation.

 

[Tiberius]

....1000s of lives have been saved from this one law.

Bob,

Surely that would imply that 1000's were dying before PAT, which I don't recall.

Nick

 

[Jeremy]

Whilst it's true that electrocution (which is actually death from electric shock, not just injury - I guess you were reincarnated after your electrocution, Bob ) incidence has reduced a fair bit over the past few decades, this has more to do with general electrical safety regulations, like "kite" mark testing (now LV Directive compliance and the CE mark) and the move to double insulation, now pretty much standard on most appliances. The shift to 115V power tools, with their max of 57.5V above earth potential, has made a very significant difference to portable electric tool safety over the past few decades, too. This is probably the single biggest electrical safety improvement in the workplace.

PAT testing hasn't really done much more than make employers undertake proper maintenance and replacement of electrical appliances, extension leads etc. This is very sensible and worthwhile, but I doubt that it's made an appreciable difference to intrinsic safety, as PAT testing doesn't in any way change the basic design of portable appliances for the better.

PAT testing hasn't made a single jot of difference to domestic electrical safety, simply because it isn't required outside of the workplace.

Overall, domestic electrical appliance safety improvements have arisen not from any PAT testing requirements, but primarily from the switch from a design philosophy of using metal cases directly connected to earth (risky, because if the earth connection fails the case can become live from a fault condition), to one of using plastic housings where even if a fault develops the user cannot easily come into contact with a live connection.

Interestingly, the downside of the switch to double insulation seems to be a small increase in the risk of internal fire, as now fault currents inevitably flow through internal components, rather than direct to earth. I'm old enough to remember when household fuses and earth leakage trips went with monotonous regularity from appliance faults, usually with little sign of any magic electrical smoke escaping. It now seems more common for things to overheat without blowing any fuses or trips.

Jeremy

 

[Footie]

Jeremy
…. PAT testing hasn't really done much more than make employers undertake proper maintenance and replacement of electrical appliances, extension leads etc. This is very sensible and worthwhile, but I doubt that it's made an appreciable difference to intrinsic safety, as PAT testing doesn't in any way change the basic design of portable appliances for the better ….

I have to say I disagree with Jeremy on this.

PAT testing (in a commercial environment) has done shed loads in making the work place safer. PAT testing is not only about testing the equipment it is also about a safe way of working and a safe state of mind. Electrical safety is not only about employers responsibility - responsibilities also rests with the worker / user. Unfortunately (and this is no disrespect to the older generation) I’ve found it very harder to educate the older workers than the younger ones on this – oldies know best? Yeh, well …. not in my book.

Anyway, with PAT testing;
Gone are the days when extension leads had multiple repairs along its length – taped up with peeling insulating tape.
Gone are the days when one picked up a plug and coloured wires or pulled bare wires can be see or the plug it’s self is broken and taped up.
Gone are the days when people run electrical leads through doors with total disregard to the door damaging or cutting the cable.

If the above can be found in your workplace then don’t use it – it’s not safe. If you do and get hurt YOU will be consider partly to blame for using it.

It's simple, think safe, act safe, be safe.
.

 

[Tiberius]

Footie,

I completely agree that you don't see the horrors that you used to, but how much of this is due to other factors, such as:

Buildings now have more mains outlets than before.
Appliances come with longer mains leads.
Appliances come already fitted with moulded on plugs rather than bare wires.
General rise in prosperity means less of the make do and mend culture.

All this means that you don't see the festoons of plugs into adaptors and extension leads that you used to. In fact I think the modern generation don't know how to wire up a plug.

You are right that there has been a cultural shift that has helped, but my point is that its a cultural shift all over, not just in electrical cabling. People nowadays are more likely to throw something away and get a new one, than to soldier on or attempt a repair. That applies in the workplace and the home.

Nick

 

[flecc]

I go even further back and remember rooms with no sockets and some two way bulb adapters in the one central ceiling light socket and a "maypole" festoon of twin wires leading down to various appliances. I remember seeing one with an old wireless, an early Baird tape recorder, a one bar electric fire and an electric cooker all running from the light socket, plus the hundred watt bulb of course. There were two strands of 20 amp wire in the fuse holder.
.

 

[Jeremy]

You're probably right, Footie. I've been blessed/cursed with a career that's been 90% in the public sector and where PAT testing is really just an added bit of paperwork, as safety standards were already pretty good before it was introduced. I fully accept that other employers may well have been a bit cavalier when it comes to such things.

Mind you, I can recall a meeting with the industrial trade unions where the topic of safety footwear was raised by them (pre the H&S@WA). The official side position was that safety footwear wouldn't be provided as an analysis of the cost/benefit had shown that it was cheaper to pay out for the occasional foot injury than buy protective footwear.............

Jeremy

 

[Footie]

Mind you, I can recall a meeting with the industrial trade unions where the topic of safety footwear was raised by them (pre the H&S@WA). The official side position was that safety footwear wouldn't be provided as an analysis of the cost/benefit had shown that it was cheaper to pay out for the occasional foot injury than buy protective footwear.............

Jeremy

That’s scary.
I buy my lads new work shoes almost every year because we wear them out - we walk miles
Thank goodness times move on
.