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Portable Appliance Testing
PAT Testing, or Portable Appliance Testing, must be undertaken on a regular basis in order for organisations to fully comply with the Electricity At Work Regulations.
Testing and inspection is required due to equipment becoming worn and damaged during everyday use.
This can result in appliances becoming unsafe and potentially very dangerous. As such it is important that a proper maintenance schedule is in place for every organisation.
PAT Testing, as carried out by COM-IT solutions, is therefore a documented method of electrical maintenance which organisations are required to undertake on all their portable appliances.
What Is A Portable Appliance?
A portable appliance is simply any piece of electrical equipment that can be moved from area to area and reconnected to an electrical supply via a plug and socket.
Overview at a Glance
- Trained Professional Testers
- Test Results E-mailed
- Same Cost for Out of Hours
- 110v and 230v Testing
- Satisfy Insurance Requirements
Why Do We Need PAT Testing?
The most important reasons for carrying out Portable Appliance Testing are:
- To comply with the Electricity At Work Regulations 1989
- Reduce the risk of fire and electrical injury due to faulty electrical equipment
- Often a requirement by insurance companies to maintain cover
- ISO 9000 Quality Assurance Standard requires organisations to comply with the Health and Safety requirements, portable appliance testing as part of this requirement
- For Landlords/Holiday Lets, The electrical equipment (safety) Regulation 1994 requires that all mains electrical equipment supplied with the accommodation must be safe
How Often Is PAT Testing Carried Out?
This depends on the workplace environment and the equipment to be tested. but is generally every 12 months however, a power drill on a building site where wear and tear is greater, the period between tests should be more frequent. We are more than happy to assist organisations in choosing the correct periods between testing.
What Is The PAT Testing Procedure?
We will perform a number of tests on each appliance such as:
- Full visual inspection
- Insulation test
- Earth continuity test
- Earth leakage test
Does Testing Disrupt The Workplace?
At COM-IT solutions, we pride ourselves on having a well trained and organised staff, ensuring that any potential downtime for our clients is kept to an absolute minimum. We will also work outside office hours if required.
Equipment to be Tested
Electrical appliances are differentiated by a series of IEC protection classes. In PAT Testing it is essential that the right type of tests are carried out for the specific type of equipment.
Class I
Single insulated wiring, which requires an earth connection. There is no symbol for a Class I product so if a rating plate has no symbol on it then it is usually Class I.
Class II
Double insulated wiring, therefore no need for a earth lead. Class II is indicated by double box.
Class III
These are appliances that are supplied at a low voltage (usually called Safety Extra Low Voltage) which must be less than 50V. These appliances are supplied with a transformer supply that is also marked.
About the Testing
Visual Inspection
- Plug to should fit together without any internal parts being visible.
- Plug pins should be straight and undamaged.
- Plug cord grip should be functional and terminations within the plug checked for tightness.
- Correct fuse value checked and fused continuity established.
- Flex should be checked for signs of abrasions and makeshift repairs.
- Item should fail if any part of the casing is damaged or if parts are missing.
Insulation Resistance Test
A test voltage is applied, usually 500V DC, between the earth conductor and live & neutral linked together. A value of >1MO should be returned for a pass.
Class 1 Equipment
This type of equipment requires an 'Earth Bond Test'
A substantial current is passed down the earth conductor, to the external metalwork and returns via the probe or crocodile clip which is connected to the test equipment. The value of the resistance is shown on the tester. A value of <0.1Ω should be returned for a pass.
In the case of a failure, the earth return should present a lower resistance path to earth than that offered by the human body.
Where long cables are being tested, the Inspector will need to make an adjustment to the value returned by the test to allow for the resistance in the cable itself, before they can be sure that the nett resistance value is low enough to be considered safe. A high test current is used so that should an earth conductor be too flimsy to provide protection under fault conditions, it will fail (melt) under test. This will allow the fault to be remedied before re-testing, and its eventual return to service.
Run Test
By checking that the equipment works, you can be sure that it was switched on when conducting the earlier tests. Monitoring the current draw can be particularly useful to check that the actual loading is in accordance with the item's rating. Excessive current draw can indicate an existing or impending fault and if unchecked can be dangerous. .
Charges
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We have tried to keep things as simply as possible, as such you can review our charges in the table below. All charges are based on a per site/per visit basis. On completion of the job you will receive:
* Subject to a minimum charge of £120 |
What is included
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We believe that there should be no surprises or hidden charges in the price. That's why, in the 2009 pricing plan, we also include in the service:
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