Hi, We have two competent engineers working here who have the C&G 2377 PAT qualification. Is there any reason why they couldn't instruct other staff members internally to do portable appliance testing or should we send them on a course run by a third party organisation? If we should send them on a course, would it have to be a C&G course or would a competence based course be sufficient? Just wondering how we would stand on this legally, would appreciate your collective thoughts on this. Thanks, Jim

Check out; 1. http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg236.pdf 2. http://www.hse.gov.uk/el...le-appliance-testing.htm Both relate to LOW RISK workplaces. Why do you want to internally train other persons??

I would suggest those technicians have adequate competence to take this on. Modern testers are "plug and play" and all that's really required is the ability to discern Class 1 from Class 2. The more important part is the formal visual examination (often not done effectively -if at all- by outsourced companies). Your technician's skill-set most likely involves much more demanding & difficult safety-critical decision making in their day-to-day work. I'd have no qualms about doing this in-house. There are of course many out there who will recommend otherwise- particularly those offering the training!!

JimD, Get copies of the CoP though for them to become familiar with this along with the relevant HSE documents. I agree that few outsourced visuals are done competently. The only other issue is familiarity with the equipment and the failure modes, which may be a little outside their scope. They also need to bear heavily in mind the users and their grasp of electrical safety. Where as electrical development lab equipment may be OK with exposed live parts at 230V, a cleaners vacuum should be failed with a split cord or exposed inner cores at the plug top for example.