Rank: Forum user 
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Should an electrical tester (testing housing stock) be working on his/her own?
A tester would be working on 'live' exposed electrical conductors, therefore lone working guidance would require a second person to be present along with the engineer testing!
Our electrical testers work in isolation on their own, but this question has been posed and its a good one!
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Put aside the lone working: have you looked at the constraints governing live working?
The regs state it can only happen in a very narrow set of circumstances.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Colossians 1:14 wrote:A tester would be working on 'live' exposed electrical conductors, I'd like an explaination of "why" and then i could advise you further.
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Rank: Forum user
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walker wrote:Put aside the lone working: have you looked at the constraints governing live working?
The regs state it can only happen in a very narrow set of circumstances.
I'm not an electrician Walker, the electricians are all qualified as is my M.D. and they all seem quite happy testing the way they do......also all our clients (major builders) haven't flagged any problems for all the years we have been doing the testing. (tenanted council houses) ....im always happy to learn if there is something we should be doing and we are not currently!
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Rank: Super forum user
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In my experience most electricians do not obey the regs regarding live working.
I'll elaborate on this tomorrow if I can find time
You might be misusing the words "live working"
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Rank: Forum user
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walker wrote:In my experience most electricians do not obey the regs regarding live working.
I'll elaborate on this tomorrow if I can find time
You might be misusing the words "live working" OK thanks. Its probably me, I found electricity a grind when doing my NEBOSH cert and Dip and it still baffles me if I'm honest :-) My 'live' working is that the electricity is 'on' while the guys are doing the testing.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Live testing is essential, IMHO to confirm safety.
Live testing is not live working.
There is more than electrical risks to think of.
WAH is another.
Personally, I do not like the idea of testers lone working, I would not allow it personally if I was in any position to prevent it, which luckily I am.
However, lone working to me means no-one on the premises who can render help.
The capability of other people on site would come into my definition of lone working, even if they are not employees.
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Rank: Super forum user
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paul.skyrme wrote:Live testing is essential, IMHO to confirm safety.
Live testing is not live working.
There is more than electrical risks to think of.
WAH is another.
Personally, I do not like the idea of testers lone working, I would not allow it personally if I was in any position to prevent it, which luckily I am.
However, lone working to me means no-one on the premises who can render help.
The capability of other people on site would come into my definition of lone working, even if they are not employees.
Spot on Paul, I was just going to give a similar response, but you beat me to it.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I agree
There is a difference between live work and live testing
Done properly there is no reason why live exposed conductors should be a hazard to a tester.
Until the OP mentioned testing domestics it was unclear what was happening
For the non electrically trained:
.....the exposed "bit" should be small and inaccessible to say a finger, pretty much in the same way a machine guard keeps body parts from cutters
And the test probes are to standard that are properly insulated and provides a "distance" between the live bit and the body bit.
Even so, I'd never test unless there was someone in the same room to come to my aid.
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Rank: Forum user
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walker wrote:I agree
There is a difference between live work and live testing
Done properly there is no reason why live exposed conductors should be a hazard to a tester.
Until the OP mentioned testing domestics it was unclear what was happening
For the non electrically trained:
.....the exposed "bit" should be small and inaccessible to say a finger, pretty much in the same way a machine guard keeps body parts from cutters
And the test probes are to standard that are properly insulated and provides a "distance" between the live bit and the body bit.
Even so, I'd never test unless there was someone in the same room to come to my aid.
Thanks walker for the laymans explanation and others for your replies
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Rank: Forum user
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From HSG85
"live work: work on or near conductors that are accessible and ‘live’ or ‘charged’. Live work includes live testing, such as using a test instrument to measure voltage on a live power distribution or control system."
I cannot see the difference between 'live testing' and 'live working' after reading the above.
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Rank: Super forum user
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So,
If, live working = live testing, then how do you prove that the circuit being worked on is safe and isolated according to the steps to safe isolation, the second of which is to prove that the circuit is live by testing?
Read the WHOLE of HSG85 first and understand what the document says and means.
How can you avoid testing live conductors if the whole point of the testing is to prove that they are LIVE!
Please, understand the work fully and the guidance, based on your quote above, to me it seems that you do not fully understand the whole document and the procedures and requirements of working on electrical systems.
Whilst live testing is essential, there is no reason to be manipulating live conductors or connections in a domestic installation, unless you are the DNO.
However, there is an essential need to prove that circuits are "live" & "dead" as required.
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