You guys have your Drills, Grinders and Power Saws, but at the end of the day, how often are these tools or the flex's on them checked for damage?.
Once a month?, Once a year?, never?, or when someone gets a shock off them?.
Power tools as essential as they are, need to be tested regularly, to ensure thier own safety and those that use them!.
How often are your tools tested?.

Mike
The company that I work for now, has us use our own tools for the most part.. I inspect my tools everytime I open the case, before I put them to use Company's that I've worked for in the past, check the tools out for these types of concerns each time it passes through the shop on its way to another jobsite.. Not to mention that if we'd spotted something that was amiss, we were to report it, so the company driver could pick the tool up & take it for repairs or for a meet with a dumpster..

-Randy

Randy,
Thanks for your response, but what I was looking for was those that used a PAT tester, for all of the Company Tools and the ones that are brought in for testing.
Unless you have an OSH approved Tag here, that Power Tool is not allowed to be used on that site.
It states that it has been tested within the last 12 months.

What I mean't Guys,
Was this could be a real venture for you guys that hold licences.
Get a PAT (Portable Appliance Tester) and tag each appliance with your test results and you can have your Co. Identity on the tag too!, especially for re-test purposes, people that work where these bits of equipment are used would read your name on there.
We do HEAPS of this sort of business, BELIEVE ME!.
This is why we are so Flat Out!.

OSHA requires that all portable equipment be checked quarterly for ground integrity, we use that check to full inspections on the equipment.

OSHA also states:
1926.404(b)(1)(iii)(C)
Each cord set, attachment cap, plug and receptacle of cord sets, and any equipment connected by cord and plug, except cord sets and receptacles which are fixed and not exposed to damage, shall be visually inspected before each day's use for external defects, such as deformed or missing pins or insulation damage, and for indications of possible internal damage. Equipment found damaged or defective shall not be used until repaired.

We have a significant problem here, in that the operators and mechanics see the colored tape (specific color for each quarter) on the cord and they assume that nothing can go wrong.

Even with a PAT, it only proves that the device was ok when it was checked. 10 minutes later some knot-head can have dropped it in a bucket of water.

No amount of scheduled testing should relieve the user from checking it each use, and not using it if it is damaged.

We had a mechanic that taped his own cord (company policy says that you cannot use a tool that hasn't had a quarterly check). It turned out that the little wrap of colored tape on the cord did nothing to correct the fact that the ground and hot were reversed in the plug. He got a nasty jolt and brought it to me for "repair". He, of course, had no idea how it got reversed or coded.

Big Ed,
Oh how true!.
But with any sort of testing, it only gives you an indication at the time of testing.
So having said that, why do we bother?.
I'll tell you why, because in some places it's required by Law.
Secondly, it is a way to cover your own @$$, no test results will ensure that you are made out to be an idiot in a Court of Law.
Thirdly, Insulation Resistance testing can be handy during Fault-Finding.

In our facility, before we switched exclusive to double insulated tools, there was a tester on the tool crib counter and every electric tool was hooked to it before it was issued, every time.

Guys,
There is a regime that is looking to step on unsafe Appliances, like Drills, Saws and other such equipment.
But at the end of the day, most of the accidents happen because of poorly maintained Extension leads, getting cut on sharp edges and the like.
We had a worker killed here a few years ago in a new house that had the cord wrapped around the Aluminium ladder, 2 or 3 strands from the phase wire had contacted the ladder, we found him later, I tried to re-susitate him, but to no avail.
This cord was tagged too!.