Bilman this is more trading standards rather than health and safety. I believe that there is some liability but what you can reasonably be expected to do is another question. I would think the potential difficulty could be if the equipment is damaged then can you really prove that it was ok when you got it?

Trading standards used to have a leaflet on second hand electrical equipment but their site has changed a lot since last time I used it and I could not find it today.

I have been wondering if I retired a bit early over the last few weeks, now I know I got out at the right time. I say this because I cannot understand how such minor triviare as raffle prizes placing any kind of H&S responsibility on the person promoting the raffle. Can people get real when they post on this forum, such triviare is idiotic.

I'm with RayRapp on this. Topic posters and responders without indications of IOSH connections beneath their names could well be members of the public. Also, what may seem to be a daft or trivial questions to some forum users will not be daft/trivial to others, and especially those posing them.

Also the question in this case may well reflect the misperceptions which exist in many people's minds in the UK between health & safety in its wider sense and the so called UK 'compensation culture' - something which is commonly discussed on this forum and can be regarded as a national "fog" which IOSH people can help to dispel - as and when opportunities arise.

Bibman - If the DVD player's packaging doesn't appear to have been opened, there's almost certainly no problem. Even if it has, the player probably still poses no risk, especially if its cable (flex) and moulded plug appear to be in sound condition. The player will almost certainly be double-insulated and the parts inside all operate at low voltage after being promptly transformed down from the mains voltage supplied by the cable. If this electrical stuff makes little or no sense to you, try having a word with someone with more electrical knowledge.

Also, some context is provided by the fact that most charity shops nowadays accept donations of various types of second-hand electrical appliances, including DVD players. Before such items are displayed for sale they are visually inspected and also subjected to simple electrical tests, often by shop staff who have been appropriately trained and equipped. From a discussion some time ago with such staff in a charity shop I understand that very few items like DVD players fail. The failures probably relate to the cables and/or plugs arriving in a damaged condition, in which case there may be scope for replacing them and thus enabling the items to be offered for sale rather than destroyed.

Hope this information helps and puts this matter in a practical perspective.

Just as I thought I stirred some comments. The main point I was making though was there is very little H&S can do about gifts to a charity (if that's what the organisation is). The thing was still in the box and presumably the instructions were still in the box, that's just like buying it from a supplier. A visual check of the piece of kit would show it is OK and was not damaged in any way. The fact it is a prize in a raffle does not make any difference to it other than it probably won't have a guarantee with it. I understand that not everyone is a safety practitioner, but there are some questions that I simply give up on as being just silly when there are many much more serious things going on such as the paltry fine M&S have just had compared to their annual turnover of some £860 million it is a very gentle smack on the wrist. Just a thought does anyone actually use a dvd layer as work equipment won in a raffle???

There a lot of assumptions going on here.
Assume its new
Assume its still in box with instructions
etc.

I don't disagree that this is probably trivial in the scheme of things but the poster needs to realise that offering electrical goods in a raffle does carry some duties. Its not the same as buying new from a shop. In British law this still counts as supply. Do you trust the person who is giving you this? If it is damaged I would be much happier saying I bought it from a shop I trusted than well Fred down the road gave it to me so I thought it would be ok.

I am not saying don't do it , in fact it is something I have done while sitting on fund rising committees in the past, if you read my very first post - its trading standards that you need to ask not health and safety. My advice is go to the right people for advice and clearly unless any of you are trading standard officers its not us. When some one asks for advice I like to ensure that I give the best advice I can which quite often is to say I don't know but these people might.

Chris, I agree totally with the comment, but I think we need to remember that not everyone asking questions or commenting on this forum are safety professionals or have training, knowledge and experienece to enable them to answer the questions for themselves. We can't help it if the good old DM spreads this type of paranoid reaction in the wider public, but I think we should help those that bother to ask.

Don't take it personally Chris ;-)

Hmmm...another thread that has lost its way for various reasons.

Strictly speaking the DVD player in the raffle would be subject to the following legislation - Consumer Protection Act 1987, Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994 and Plugs and Sockets (Safety) Regulations 1994.

The above legislation applies to all suppliers of new and second-hand electrical goods. The term 'supplier' is quite broad, but it does apply to electrical goods loaned or given away by charities. As I suggested in my earlier thread, if there is no good reason to suspect the equipment is defective that will suffice. Giving it away in a raffle is in effect no different to buying from a shop or wholesaler.

Hopefully put this one to bed.