Running a care home is not without its challenges when it comes to Health & Safety.  Checking the mains electrical supply in the UK and any hardwired items attached to it, must be done by a qualified electrician. But there is one electrical test that can be carried out in-house by a ‘competent’ person – PAT testing of portable appliances.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 requires all electrical systems in the workplace are maintained, ‘so far as reasonably practical’, to prevent danger. The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 places the duty of care on employers and self employed persons to ensure the safety of all persons using the work premises – again, so far as is reasonably practical.  In the case of a care home, this includes protecting staff, residents and visitors.

One way to ensure portable appliance tests are being carried out satisfactorily is to carry out your own PAT testing.  PAT testing involves a visual inspection and an electrical test where necessary. Apart from saving you the costs of an electrician or person to PAT Test for you, you can carry out these tests at a time to suit your business. It’s not a once a year job either, there will be times throughout the year when you have equipment brought into the business that hasn’t had a PAT test. 

Tracey Phillips, Manager at The Rise Care Home in Dawlish, Devon, purchased an easy to use PB500 PAT Tester kit for their business 18 months ago. She said: “It makes absolute sense to buy the equipment and do it yourselves. We have 23 letting rooms here and lots of communal rooms. We used to pay someone year after year to do this test, now our maintenance man does it. Also during the year, if we get a new resident, it’s important to PAT test their electrical items and so it’s great to have the PAT test machine here and ready to go. If we didn’t have a maintenance man here at the home, I would have been tempted to buy the machine, go on a course and do it myself.”

Residents often have a number of electrical items in their rooms, ranging from radio clock alarms to televisions. Another advantage to having the tests carried out by your own staff is the residents are familiar with these people, thus eliminating any potential stress of having a ‘stranger’ in their room.

Insurance matters
It’s not only good practice to PAT test, it is also something that more and more insurance companies will want to see evidence of having been carried out. It is a good idea to check your policy to see if there is a PAT testing frequency requirement. If you were to claim for fire damage for example, the insurer would want to know that you did all you could to protect yourselves from fire risk and this is likely to include portable appliance testing. Good record keeping is essential to demonstrate you have been carrying out regular testing.

Training your staff to PAT test
There is a fair bit of confusion about PAT testing and what defines a ‘competent’ person. Currently there is no particular certification you need to gain in order to be deemed ‘competent’ but it is recommended that the person carrying out the tests undergoes some training to understand PAT testing requirements and to gain confidence in the machine they will be using.  Many suppliers of PAT testers offer training and these are usually no more than a day or two in duration.

 A ‘frequency’ Question
One frequently asked question we are asked at Parker Bell is how often you need to inspect each appliance. This varies, depending on the usage and type of business. There are free guidelines available on the frequency of inspection from the Health & Safety Executive or you can purchase a comprehensive book on PAT Testing by the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) called ‘Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment’.  This book also has a table with suggested frequency of testing.  Commonsense prevails here, the conditions in which an appliance is kept, the history of the appliance and the amount of usage all play a part in how often to test.

Choosing a PAT Tester.
There are many PAT testers on the market but you need to consider how often you use it and what you need to PAT test.  Quite often the most basic (and economically cheaper) option will do the job perfectly well. Popular with care homes, is the simple battery operated PASS/FAIL push button testers. It’s worth asking other care homes what they use if they PAT test in-house and to speak to the suppliers of the machines to ascertain the right machine for you.

For further information on PAT testing or testers, contact Parker Bell on (01392) 364933 or visit www.parker-bell.co.uk.