When looking into student accommodation, electrical appliance safety should be one of your main priorities. We’d be right in saying that students who are living away for the first time are probably thinking about others things rather than the appliances in their residence.
Our advice would be to consider the condition of the appliances in shared kitchens and living rooms in the building and any appliances that may be available in your room too. Take a look at the age of the appliances, the electrical cables and the plugs’ condition.
Electrical appliance safety checks
- Check for damage to the casing
- Are there any frayed cables?
- Is the plug damaged?
- What is the condition of the socket?
- Are there any coloured wires visible into the plug?
- Do you notice any burn marks on the appliance casing or plug
- Has the appliance been tested in the last 12 months (if it has been it will have a pat testing green label stating when it was tested)
If the new accommodation is furnished with fridge, tumble dryer, washing machine, toaster and microwave, these items should have been PAT tested in the last 12 months and will have a green pass sticker stating when the test was carried out.
We often get asked whether it is a legal obligation to have your own appliances PAT tested in student accommodation and the answer is no. Ensuring that your own items are safe to use is your own responsibility. In recent studies it has shown that student accommodation tends to have more appliances than a regular household because each will have their own television, games console, phone chargers, computer, speakers, hair dryer, hair straighteners etc.
If you in doubt about any electrical appliance safety in your student accommodation, it may be a good idea to discuss with your housemates whether it would be worth having all appliances PAT tested for your own peace of mind.
Sense PAT Testing Birmingham offer safety testing in all universities and student housing in and Birmingham and the West Midlands
