PAT Testing...

[DanteCBR]

just curious to whether someone from the forum could enlighten me regarding PAT testing rules and regulations..

I'm at college and i have my own laptop instead of college computers. Ive been told that i can not plug my laptop in to charge it as its not been PAT tested. A mate of mine PAT tested it as he is an electrician but the college are stating that if its not PAT tested by a college electrician its not classed as tested.

I was under the impression that if its been PAT tested, it does have to be re-tested because its used at a different location. I asked my mate and he said its "balls" (bo**ocks) that it will need to be re-tested and stated that its similar to a vehicle MOT (referred to automotive subject as that is what i study), he said that once a car is MOT'd that it wont need to be re-tested for driving in a different part of the country (similar to charger being tested in one place and used in another)

So what do you people think? should it be re-tested for use in college or be ok on the test it already passed??

Thanks in advance guys

--DanteCBR

 

[davenn]

hi there
weclome to the forums

as long as it has been tested by a registered (read licenced) PAT tester there should be no problem. is you mate licenced to PAT test, just being a registered (licenced) electrician isnt enough.
If you can supply the PAT test certificate for that appliance there shouldnt be a problem. And if they wont accept a certified test then they are just being "anal" and prob not much you can do other than have them test it

cheers
Dave

 

[donkey]

i work for a cleaning/security company in australia. we get things tested every 6 months. we use our own guys to do this for the simple reason, it covers our butts.

if we used an independant then there is a probability (very unlikely but still a small chance) that the credentials of the independant could be outdated, not current, or worse still fraudulent. we have however found a guy that does it cheaper than the guy in our company so we had the top occupational health and safety guy get a hold of his credentials verify them and now we sub-out that part of our testing to him. the top guy also audits the subcontractors credentials every few months now.

I think more than anything the college is trying to make sure that A) your test was carried out recently thus limiting the possibility that something has happened to the device since its test
and B) the person who carried it out is completely qualified to do so.

all in all I believe it to be an insurance issue NOT an issue of yours or your friends credability, or the college trying to get more money.

you could ask your friend to provide details of his credentials to the school, AND a receipt of when the laptop was tested. this MAY help you out a little