There is a duty under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 that ‘all (electrical) systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger’. This includes both fixed (electrical installations) and portable electrical systems.
In order to comply with this Regulation, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advise employers to have an ongoing programme of ‘formal visual inspection’ and ‘formal visual inspection and safety testing’. For a fixed electrical installation this takes the form of a 5 yearly fixed wire test or EICR. For portable appliances this takes the form of a pre-use check and a portable appliance test (PAT).
The Procedure describes what is expected from Schools and Departments with regards to inspecting portable electrical equipment. This includes guidance on competencies for personnel undertaking the different levels of testing, test criteria, testing frequencies and the importance of record keeping.
The guidance document is a step-by-step guide to the measures required to undertake a Formal Visual Inspection and is there to assist you in checking your electrical equipment prior to plugging it in. The guidance has been reproduced by kind permission of Safety and Environmental Protection Services, University of Glasgow. The guidance is not for those persons undertaking the combined inspection and test. They will require a greater level of training, which is outlined in the procedure.