For the Yankee nay-sayers - PAT testing is to ensure that portable tools, appliances, extension cords and various in-the-circuit accessories continue to work as designed and intended, and to remove non-compliant items from service.
Construction sites are big offenders when it comes to extension cords, no ground (earthing) continuity, damaged tool insulation, etc and I fully agree that residential work is probably where one finds the greatest number of failures because absent a serious injury or death, there is little regulatory oversight and typically no dedicated safety officer. I've been in plenty of small theaters or schools where damaged cables and connectors were in constant use and only a failure to conduct electricity would remove them from service.
Americans have this love/hate relationship with safety compliance; we don't want to get hurt or to hurt others but we're damned opposed to anyone telling us what to do or how to conduct our personal and business affairs. That's why we need unions and regulatory enforcement. If people acted in the interests of safety instead of speed or money perhaps intrusive regulation would not be necessary... but as history has show, we have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a mindset that injuring or killing workers is a Very Bad Thing.
Construction sites are big offenders when it comes to extension cords, no ground (earthing) continuity, damaged tool insulation, etc and I fully agree that residential work is probably where one finds the greatest number of failures because absent a serious injury or death, there is little regulatory oversight and typically no dedicated safety officer. I've been in plenty of small theaters or schools where damaged cables and connectors were in constant use and only a failure to conduct electricity would remove them from service.
Americans have this love/hate relationship with safety compliance; we don't want to get hurt or to hurt others but we're damned opposed to anyone telling us what to do or how to conduct our personal and business affairs. That's why we need unions and regulatory enforcement. If people acted in the interests of safety instead of speed or money perhaps intrusive regulation would not be necessary... but as history has show, we have to be dragged, kicking and screaming, into a mindset that injuring or killing workers is a Very Bad Thing.