Some franchise companies pay their staff on the number of appliances they put stickers on and so corners become cut.
Sadly, this is an industry in which very few can be trusted to do the job properly, not just the franchises.
I built, owned sold a serious size pat test business "doing the job properly" getting massive contracts...and came to the conclusion that much of the industry just throws stickers on - Some of the one man bands were even worse.
I could win even money by going in the day after pat testing by much of the competition, and betting that I could find a dangerous piece of equipment and would probably have to go no further than the extension leads, to prove my point!! - Plus find a few stickers on 9V appliances just to prove the point that they cheat.
The problem is it is a grudge purchase. People pay to tick a box, not becuase they want it done properly if at all.. So long as they can "transfer the risk" to someone elses insurance. That means they tend to cease to care, how it is done, so long as it is done.
It is not breaking the law to fail to test - or even follow the code of practise - it is only used as evidence of a breach of health and safety regs if somebody gets hurt, or the HSE come in for other reasons,and decide to throw the book at you.
My advice to small companies, is get the book, follow it. It really is easy stuff. The hardest bit is grubbing around to find the cables.
Do it yourself, and concentrate on visual inspection. MOST of the problems can be found this way - particularly look at long trailing leads eg for vaccuum cleaners, extension leads, power drills, kettles , the plugs and so on. Focus on areas accessed by public.
On the other hand, if all you want is to tick a box.......rather than keep people safe....
