Health & safety bulletin
Using Defective Equipment
24th September 2009
Please see enclosed self explanatory Accident Investigation.
This shows how dangers can arise through the use of defective equipment. Always inspect all equipment before use, especially electrical equipment. If you find any faults, do not use the equipment and report it to your supervisor. Do not try to compensate for or repair the defect; as can be seen in this report they noticed the drill was damaged, and thought they could compensate for this, but ended up being injured.
Always check that electrical equipment is within its PAT test period - the expiry date will be specified on a sticker on the equipment (normally 3 month periods). If the equipment is out of date inform your supervisor, but just because the equipment is within the PAT test date, do not assume it is ok - most problems can be found be giving the equipment a quick visual inspection.
Click here to download the bulletin (440Kb PDF file)