Posted By Ian Bruce My employer, a Local Education Authority, is attempting to put together a package that would formalise testing of microwave ovens for radiation leakage. The intention is to link this with PAT tests and ideally, have the test performed by the same individual that performs the PAT test. The action is union lead who are championing a perceived risk on behalf of their membership. I am concerned that we will, or rather, the schools will, spend a significant amount of money to ensure these tests occur. The purchase costs of equipment, training and time, will need to be recovered by the "maintenance" division. My query is this: As most modern microwave ovens pose a very slight radiation leakage risk, do we need to test for this at all? Any feedback from others who may have travelled this road before would be much appreciated. On a seperate topic, I can remember reading somewhere, that all tractors should have seat belts fitted by a certain date. I can no longer find this reference (did I dream it)? Any comments again, gratefully received.

Posted By Geoff Burt Similar to John - only ever found one that gave an indication of a reading and that was cured by wiping the seal. Your risk assessment should show that the checks are not required - why waste resources on it? Geoff

Posted By Diane Thomason It's a great pity that people perceive risks from this kind of "radiation leakage" out of all proportion to the actual risk. There is a very real risk of burns, scalds and fires resulting from the use of microwave ovens - I hope your colleagues give equal attention to ensuring that people know how to use microwaves safely. There have been many injuries caused by unwise use of microwaves. This week we had a fire in one of our departments, caused by someone attempting to roast peanuts (in their shells of course), on a plastic plate, in a microwave oven, then going off and forgetting it. Result: peanuts and plate converted to carbon. I have also witnessed a spectacular explosion of a glass bottle containing a solution that had been heated in a microwave, which suddenly came to the boil explosively when it was being taken out of the microwave. The boiling liquid and bits of glass flew several metres across the room. Nobody hurt, luckily! Regards Diane

Posted By Ian Bruce Thankyou very much to all those who responded. It's encouraging to note that there is a feeling that this sort of test may not be "reasonably practicable"! I think the advice that I shall give to schools will be to perform risk assessments on an individual site basis and let the Head Teacher decide if he/she wants to spend their budget on testing. Thanks once again.