PAT

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For those of you in small companies that have a lot of appliances that need regular testing, I thoroughly recommend you get certified in this.

The course in itself is interesting (ok, well one guy fell asleep on today's course, but everyone's different). Found out a few things that I hadn't even thought of before:

Had just assumed that all portable appliances needed to be tested on a yearly basis...but that's not the case. (depending on a few variants) servers can go up to 3 years in-between tests...but some hand held devices need to be tested, at least visually, once every 3 months...also got some insight to plugs and fuses...

If you get certified then you'll save your company money by performing the testing yourself. Also, if you notice any dodgy leads / appliances etc then, to an extent, you can check them for yourself whenever you want rather than faff around trying to get someone in to look at it.

Of course the only down-point is that it is up to you to make sure everything is up to scratch!

 

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Sounds good - any liability tho' under Health & Safety Legislation and/or insurance cover required ?

 

http://www.pat-testing.info/ Edit: the linked info applies to the UK.

 

Hey useful link ! (rep given)

The site doesn't seem to cover the liability of the tester tho' which is what I was really getting at i.e. if you are an independent IT support person/company/contractor and you undertake the necessary C&G to do PAT testing, what about your liability for testing correctly ?

Likewise, if you work for a Company and test something and subsequently someone suffered a shock, is there any liability on you ?

Was any of that sort of thing covered in the course ?

 

From what I gathered from the course, as long as you have been certified in testing...you documented everything (the appliance - what has been checked...when checked...make sure it is all fully labelled once tested...) when testing...

...and your machine has been calibrated correctly (and you have a certificate to back the calibration up)...you're covered.

However, don't quote me on that (as with everything - there's always at least one exception -eek!)

I would send you the link to the company I went with but don't think we're allowed to advertise in that way. Prob best to google 'portable appliance testing' or go to HSE website - you'll probably find what you need that way.

 

I obtained my PAT cert a few years ago via City and Guilds. Daft thing is it was a multi choice exam and open book. Unless you were totally stupid ya couldnt fail. Needed to get 30 out of 35, and i got 35... was too easy.

Worked doin PAT tests for 1 year but got bored. In one job was paid per day and had to do 150 tests a day, then could go home (madef or short days) in anotehr i was paid by test, ok when you get a large site, but when you travel 50 miles to a site with only 10 tests its not worth doing.

And now i support the software for printing the PAT certficates on pcs from the machines.

 

What sort of cost do you apply for a PAT test ?

 

When i was paid by teh test it was 70p for a normal test and £2.5 to test microwaves, but that was what i got paid, the company charged £1.20 per test and £10 per microwave. When i was paid per day i got around £300 a week, think the company chared by the contract which the depened on the number of estimated tests on site (normally somewhere above £10000 per site).

It also seems that PAT testing can come under IT for some companies (liek all else) so teh IT guys have to do teh tests on top of thier normal roles. No extra pay for that!

 

Not a big earner then

 

Today's course was quite simple too - I think a lot of it is common sense...

...however, we had a 30 question multiple choice...but also a practical. You needed to have absorbed a fair bit of it to do pass...admitedly I got 100% on the practical, but one of the tests was to open up a plug and identify what was wrong - I spotted that the fuse was 13 amps but wattage was below 700 on the rating plate of the appliance... so said it had falied (which was right) ...that's something I wouldn't have known without the course and there were a fair few tests like that.

We have done this just for our own company's benifit and are not expecting to gain from it - just save on internal testing!

 

All depends on the company, how they pay, the amount of test on a site etc. I mean i had days where i could only earn £30 due to the number of tests and pay £20 for petrol to get to a site. But i had otehr days where i was lucky. One school i tested wanted all thier IEC lead doing seperately. In one room alone there were over 300 leads. It takes 1 min to test a lead and at 70p a test it soon adds up.

It really does depend on the luck of teh draw. I just know that there are loads of companies out there making a fortune on these tests, yet the guys doing it dont!

Of course in some companies its all done in house so teh IT guys or electricians do it as part of thier jobs.

 

Yeah some of the things you pick up are common sense while others you'd only know with experience. The course i did i paid for myself (was unemployed at the time so got a rebate but still had to pay for the exam). It was 3 days, one of theory, one of practical, and the other to sit the exam. For me it was easy as i am a trained Spark so knew soem of it anyway. But others had never touched electrical stuff and had no clue. And soem of them still failed despite being allowed thier text books in teh exam. Just goes to show, if you don't know it and don't know how to look up an answer its pointless even trying.

 

i did some online PAT exam, not sure what it was or what it was used for but work made me take it

Grim

 

I have been testing my entire company over the last few months, it really is the most boring job ever, only good thing about was getting to meet almost every employee.

Honestly, unless you like mind numbing jobs, stay clear.

 

Boring yes, but I think my point was missed

It is a (relatively) simple thing to get qualified in and, in a lot of cases (as with ours) it works out an awful lot cheaper for the company to pay for you to get certified and do the testing as opposed to external peops coming in (provided you shop around for a course that won't rip your company off).. even if you end up only doing a thorough test just the once for the duration you are at the company!

 

Don't get me wrong, the course is interesting (sort of),my view is, why get certified in something, that puts you to sleep when you put it into practice.

Unless you (not your company) is going to make money from it, don't bother, the notion will fade very very quickly. Almost anyone who I have met that had done PAT testing, hasn't stuck it for long, due to the boredom of the job.

Put it this way, it wont be going on my CV.

 

I do agree with Grim in that it can be the most boring job going, even if you are getting paid to do it. testing leads day in day out, sat on your own in a straneg office or company can get you down.

However it is a legal requirement that a competent person carried out the PATs. So for some companies this means sending some one on a course to do it as it is cheaper than paying and external company to come in and do teh work.
For Lee, its another string in her bow. Not a big one admittedly, but anotehr one none the less. It shows willingness to learn new things and and ability to pick up things outside of your normall scope of knowledge.

I've had to be responsible for doing PATs for several comapnies now, mainly due to being the only one qualified. It was only for 2 jobs was that all i was doing and did get very bored quickly. In other jobs, it was an addition to my main role, so i didnt get too bored, and it meant i was seen as somone willing to learn and a technical ability. I was also hoping that for one job it might have lead more into teh Health and Saftey area of teh company.

 

..still think you missed my point. This post wasn't aimed at getting certified to do PAT as a major part of your job

...so that it gives you a better understanding of something...

...If you've done it to include it as a tiny part of your job, and testing is is solely internal (for a small company), it will be enough to save the company money but not take up much of your time to do it.

...who said anything about it going on the CV? For me, It will be on a list I have been building up with the many extra things I can do that aren't included on the CV and any future employer only finds out if I want them to!

 

I do see your point leehaa, but i will quote your first and last sentce from your original post, which sums up what im saying.

If its only a few appliances then fine, but if its more like a few hundred or thousand, then prepare to get really bored for a few weeks, honestly im in the process of doing it for my company.

 

My point is, i dont want a potential employer knowing i can pat test, because i rather do network administration/support.