Pat Testing and UK Law
For any business, there are specific requirements for PAT testing. UK law places the responsibility for ensuring the safety of electrical devices used in the workplace squarely on the shoulders of the employer. All electrical appliances are covered under these acts and codes. The reasons for this are sensible: Every year, thousands of people are injured by faulty appliances and thousands of fires are started by devices attached to the mains that should not have even been allowed onsite. This endeavor is about safety, not punishment or onerous regulations and is a basic responsibility of any business.
There are professional firms that provide PAT testing. UK law is not the only agency that requires that these services be put to use by employers. Most insurance firms will quickly deny any claim for fire damage or employee injury that is directly attributable to the use of faulty appliances at the workplace. One must ensure that they are not the cause of such injuries and that they make every effort to ensure that compliance standards are maintained at their places of business. While the insurance firms and the applicable laws are certainly motivations, there are more poignant reasons to stay in compliance.
Fires, injuries and even deaths can be prevented by competent PAT testing. UK workplace regulations exist, first and foremost, to ensure that workers are afforded a guarantee of safety when they head off to work every day. While a business may face severe legal and financial consequences for non-compliance, the personal consequences of being the cause of an injury are much more devastating and long-lasting. Electrical current is deadly. Aside from the risk of death, it can also cause severe and debilitating burn injuries. While it is an indispensible tool of the modern world, all the years of technological development have not at all reduced the threat it poses.
For any business, there is a basic responsibility to employees and their communities that necessitates PAT testing. UK businesses that stay in compliance with the law and which look out for the health of their employees represent the most responsible of corporate citizens. While reducing costs and increasing profits is the principal charge of any commercial enterprise, there are those elements of doing business where compromise is simply inexcusable. Maintaining proper safety at the workplace is most certainly among those elements and business must ensure that they do so.