Legislation

There are four main sections of legislation that are applicable to the “Inspection and testing of in-service electrical equipment” or commonly referred to as “PAT Testing” for short.

They are as follows:

• The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (H&SWA)

• The Management of the Health & Safety at Work Act Regulations 1999

• The Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

• The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR)

The Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (H&SWA)

The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 puts a duty of care upon both employer  and employee to ensure the safety of all persons using the work premises. This includes the self-employed.

The Management of the Health & Safety at Work Act Regulations 1999

The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 state:

“Every employer shall make a suitable and sufficient assessment of

• (a)  the risks to the health and safety of his employees to which they are exposed whilst they are at work, and

• (b) the risks to the health and safety of persons not in his employment arising out of or in connection with the conduct by him of his undertaking “. (Regulation 3(1))

Simply put, this act requires that every employer carry out suitable risk assessments to ensure that both employees and others are not subject to danger. This is required in order to be able to effectively implement the (H&SWA)

The Provision & Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER)

The PUWER 1998 requires that all work equipment be constructed in such a way to ensure that it is suitable for the purpose for which it was intended to be used. The responsibility for ensuring that this requirement is met is that of the employer.

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 state:

“Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is so constructed or adapted as to be suitable for the purpose for which it is used or provided”. (Regulation 4(1)

The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 (PUWER) cover most risks that can result from using work equipment. With respect to risks from electricity, compliance with the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR) is likely to achieve compliance with PUWER regulations 5-9, 19 and 22.

PUWER only applies to work equipment that may be used by workers at a place of work. The term “work equipment” is seen to include all work equipment whether fixed, portable or transportable that is connected to a source of electrical energy.

PUWER does not apply to the fixed installations of a building or workplace as the electrical safety of these installations is dealt with only by the Electricity at Work Regulations.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (EAWR)

These regulations are particularly relevant to the inspection and testing of in-service electrical equipment.

The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 state:

“As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger”. (Regulation 4(2))

”’System‘ means an electrical system in which all the electrical equipment is, or may be, electrically connected to a common source of electrical energy and includes such source and such equipment”. (Regulation 2(1))

“Electrical equipment includes anything used, intended to be used or installed for use, to generate, provide, transmit, transform, rectify, convert, conduct, distribute, control, store, measure or use electrical energy”. (Regulation 2(1)

There are two main definitions in the EAWR being:

• The Electrical System

• The Duty Holder

The Electrical System

This term is a very encompassing one as the EAWR describes it as being anything that is able to use, generate, store or transmit electrical energy. As can be clearly seen this would cover pretty much any item that may be used or connected in any way to a source of electrical energy.

The Duty Holder

The Duty Holder is deemed to be anyone (employee, employer, self-employed etc) that has “Control” of an electrical system. Control in this context is seen to mean design, installation, working with or maintenance of such a system.

Additionally Duty holders have a legal responsibility to ensure both their own safety and that of others whilst in control of an electrical system

Although the inspection and testing is not specifically referred too in the EAWR there is a requirement that such systems are “Maintained” in a condition so as not to cause danger. Therefore, this requirement must be met and adhered too and thus there is a need for regular planned inspection and testing in order to identify as and when maintenance is required.

Regulation 16 of the EAWR 1989

This regulation in particular should be mentioned as it is ‘absolute’, meaning that regardless of time or costs involved it has to be complied with. The regulation also outlines the requirement for the person responsible to be ‘competent’.

Scope of the legislation

It is clear that the combination of the H&SWA 1974, the PUWER 1998 and the EAWR 1989 apply to all electrical equipment used in, or associated with, places of work. The scope extends from distribution systems down to the smallest piece of electrical equipment.

Landlord Legal Requirements

Anyone who lets residential accommodation (such as houses, flats and bed sits, holiday homes, caravans and boats) as a business activity is required by law to ensure the equipment they supply as part of the tenancy is safe.

The Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 requires that all mains electrical equipment (cookers, washing machines, kettles, etc), new or second-hand, supplied with the accommodation must be safe. Landlords therefore need to regularly maintain the electrical equipment they supply to ensure it is safe.

The supply of goods occurs at the time of the tenancy contract. It is, therefore, essential that property is checked prior to the tenancy to ensure that all goods supplied are in a safe condition. A record should be made of the goods supplied as part of the tenancy agreement and of checks made on those goods. The record should indicate who carried out the checks and when they did it.

It is strongly advisable to have the equipment checked before the start of each let. It would be good practice to have the equipment checked at regular intervals thereafter. You should obtain and retain test reports detailing the equipment, the tests carried out and the results.