I came upon this thread in another forum, in which a British builder is asking about taking 110V power tools to Australia:
http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=246102
And one of the replies:
Seems to me that the Austrlian authorities are getting carried away with workplace safety.

Would any of our Aussie members care to comment?

I don't know about our Aussie members, but there are [possible] moves afoot to bring such legislation into more meaningful play over here.

I have a colleague in the HSE and she has told me that they are formulating some kind of plan to press for regular testing and tagging - probably every 6 months. This would apply to ANY equ. used for trade purposes, whether fixed/portable, sole or not - in line with SAW legislation.

I don't have any qualms about it personally, although I think the Au regime is a tad prescriptive at one month! I test all my gear pretty regularly; probably three times a year or if it gets dropped/wet etc. Have already surprised myself having to fail a much-loved drill !! However, it's one thing to test your own stuff for nothing - quite another to pay £££s for someone else to to it; especially if they're not sparkies with a PAT box.

I must admit I tend to concentrate the testing on the 240V stuff and not so much on the 110V.

Why does the UK 110VCT tranny fail in Oz? What do they do with theirs?

Like Paul says; lets hear it from the Aussie colleagues!!

[This message has been edited by uksparky (edited 08-04-2004).]

Mmm, But if we cant get insurance to do PAT testing who's going to do it? Uk how did you get on with the insurance co regarding the PAT testing premium? Seems as though HSE and Insurance co need to get together and have a bit of a chat about these things before they steam roll any legislation through otherwise we might all be back to a good old hammer and chissel must have a look for my old rawlplug tool!!!

HA!! LOL Aland

I haven't got far with the insurance biz yet... I made no progress at all on Monday and have been too busy since!

Yeah...I agree about the communication issue you raise; but isn't that just typical of the way we do things of late in UK??

I'll keep you abreast of the insurance malarchy...

I can't see why a UK 110V CTE site transformer would be disallowed in Australia.

Is there maybe a requirement for all hand-held power tools to be RCD protected, no matter what voltage? If so, there's no reason why an RCD cannot be put on the 110V secondary to add this required protection.

I am working full time as an electronics technician for a large multinational company & also working as a first year electrical apprentice in the Northern Territory of Australia. The full time job has mandatory electrical testing but on some of the building sites I have been on its 'anything goes' with no testing of tools on one site I was on. Most building sites have mandatory tagging & testing of tools & leads. No idea what the drama with the 110VAC transformer is.

[This message has been edited by 32VAC (edited 08-09-2004).]

Now, I aren't from Australia, but I am reasonably close.
The only tools we use are of the 230V variety, fed via an RCD.
Drills, saws and the like are all standard Mains Voltage units.

So would there be anything in the NZ workplace health & safety orders to prevent the use of UK 110V tools with a CTE xfmr?

Paul forgive me for going a little off topic but the US has a similar testing requirement.

If your transformer was not UL listed I would turn it away from the site, of course you would not need it here.

Bob

In Ontario Canada anyway, some low run electrical gear is a approved by the Ontario Hydro "Special testing authority"

Paul,
No there isn't Paul, I see your point, but in general, an (ugh!) RCD is used here instead.
Besides, I don't even think that you can even buy 110V tools here, if they are, they would be a lot more expensive than the Mains tools we have here.
Other side of the coin, Cordless Drills are used a lot more here these days, than Mains Drills, owing to better battery capacity and the fact that a C-Drill can use a hole-saw of up to 32 mm diameter.
Power to burn!.

Good point Bob. The 110V power tools sold here aren't UL listed either.

Mike,
Yes, cordless tools have become pretty popular since power and battery capacity improved. You still need the chargers though, so I guess there could be arguements over whether they have an appropriate UL/CSE/CE/whatever approval mark.

Call me old-fashioned, but I still can't quite bring myself to really use cordless power tools. I'm just too wedded to AC tools I guess.

LOL Uhuh...I was the same!!

Now I can do many a job without the corded drills ever leaving the van! I have to say that working up ladders and in new-build ( sans power ) is a heck easier without dragging half a hundredweight of flex arouns behind me! ANd don't you just HATE when the coupling ( even CEEform) gets hooked around the only damn obstacle in sight!!! ( Usually when you're at the top of the 10M ladder )

I don't go for cordless-everything, or great power either: 14.4V does everything I want 90% of the time. I was watching a chippy making a door the other day; he drew out his cordless snorter and wopped his way through a 6' rip in three x two without breaking into a sweat; impressive - my mains snorter hangs its tongue out at such jobs!!

Trouble with cordless is firstly the cost of anything worth having, and secondly the attractiveness of them to the light fingered

It's interesting to note that I erect about half the quantity of site-supplies now that I used to around 3 or 4 years ago...

Here in the US there are two choices for insuring workplace electrical safety. One, you can put GFCIs on every tool circuit. Two, the Assured Equipment Grounding Conductor program. More and more contractors opt for both.

The Assured EGC program consists of visual inspection and continuity testing each quarter. Cords that pass the test are wrapped at each end with colored electrical tape, a different color for each testing period.

When I have worked in industrial plants, usually an electrician is assigned this task, but on construction sites, it often falls to the GC's go-fer or someone with no quals whatsoever.

I recall one morning a young man walking into the room where I was working and telling me I needed to put yellow tape on my cord. I asked him why. He replied, "To comply with OSHA regs." I had to give him a hard time. I asked him exactly how a marking of colored tape was supposed to make my cord safer. He was unable to answer. I asked him what a continuity test was, and got a blank stare. I told him I'd be happy to wrap the entire cord if he could explain to me why the OSHA code required it.

Not realizing it was the first of the month, I had tested my cord earlier that morning, out of habit. I'll be happy to put tape on my cord, lavender and chartreuse if it makes you happy. Just make sure you know why your asking!

Sounds like one of those people who become an "expert" by reading all the rule books but not having any practical experience or real knowledge of why certain rules are imposed.

Aren't those last season's colors? I thought lemon yellow and lime green were the latest fashion!