Your PAT testing has been done, what’s next?

Now we’ve checked your electrical equipment is safe, we need to make sure it stays safe, so if you have any issues with defective appliances let me know so we can come check them for you. We also need to make sure you are always compliant so…

Your PAT testing Report explained

We have provided you with an important document, this confirms that you have carried out maintenance inspections to check electrical appliances are safe to continue using. Keep it safe as you never know when it will come in handy.

The PAT Report Passes and the Failures report are the two most important parts. The overview Certificate is good to have but the list of appliances and their test results is a major asset. That report shows each appliance, and its ID number. The number references the number of the label we put on your appliance. It tells an inspector the appliance was safe when tested.

If an appliance was faulty, and could be repaired; if it is listed as passed, then it has been repaired.

First thing you need to do is make sure nothing has been missed

This is where a lot of problems later on come from; electrical equipment could have been hiding in a drawer or cupboard – if so we probably won’t have seen; if it gets used, and hasn’t been checked, can you be sure it’s safe? More often than not, staff keep appliances in drawers because they know they’re not meant to have them in work, so its important you check these places for anything that has been missed, and either get us back, or get the equipment removed from work.

Do you have anyone working from home? If they have equipment supplied by work, that needs testing too. We can go to their homes to do it, or you could arrange another day for us to be at your work and they come in. Same applies if you have engineers with tools in a van.

What happened with your server?

If you have a server system and it was not turned off on this occasion; it will need a full test at some point. When was it last tested in full? A server should be installed correctly, by an IT professional, but if they made a mistake, or a part wasn’t up to standard it could be a fire risk. An electrical equipment left to keep getting hotter will eventually catch fire.

A server should be tested in full at the very least once every 5 years following installation. That means you need to make sure arrangements are made for it to be shutdown and a full test done. This can be out of hours.

If anything failed, what do you need to do with that appliance?

Our technician would have told you what to do with the appliance – if it needs removing from service and disposing of; do that. If it can be repaired he would have offered a suggestion for that too. If we can do it, we can quote you, or you may need a specialist engineer.

But do not use it whilst it’s recorded as a fail.

If you are getting it repaired, get us in to retest it before putting it back into service.

Until our next planned visit, if an appliance gets damaged or a staff member reports a faulty appliance..

Let us know; if we can repair it we’ll quote you a price to do so. In most cases we charge for time on site and the cost of the parts. If it’s just a plug that needs replacing we won’t charge for the plug.

Users of equipment need to do their User Checks

Everyone at work is responsible for Health and Safety, so everyone needs to check their appliances before use; you should encourage this of your staff, as it is a great way to reduce accidents at work. If staff report anything faulty, take the appliance out of service and get us in to check it. Find more info on User Checks here.

How long until your next PAT test?

This is important – official line is that you need to risk assess every type of appliance for use, user, environment, suitable for use, etc to determine a risk level, in order to decide how often an appliance needs maintenance, inspection and or testing. This can be a very big document, that takes a lot of time to do, and costs a great deal of money. The HSE PAT testing documents do give some guidance on this.

Insurance companies on the other hand would prefer you to not get tested at all! Because if you don’t they can use that to get out of paying on a claim. What they expect though, and never tell you, is that you do everything you can to ensure electrics are safe; so they prefer you to get PAT tested every year (unless you workplace is high risk, then it’ll need doing more often).

What we recommend: Assess the risks – if there is an accident, you are responsible, so make sure you are protected. It’s for this reason that most people get appliances PAT tested annually. PAT testing frequency is a heavily discussed subject, but there is a good reason why most companies get annual checks, and why most PAT companies, Health and Safety companies, and Fire inspectors etc recommend annual checks – because it is regarded as the best way to reduce the risk of accidents, and is known to have reduced the number of accidents reported.

PAT Testing Reminders

What we will do to help you: We will send you a reminder when the 12-month anniversary of your last inspection is approaching (or sooner if the risk requires it), by email. That reminder, sent only by me (Richard) so don’t believe dodgy emails from anyone else, will be issued 4-8 weeks before the date. It will include a suggest date and appointment slot for our technician to come. All you have to do is reply to confirm, or request another date. If you do this, you’ll always be complying.

Risk Based Retest Reminders

If you don’t want to do PAT every 12 months, we can put you on a risk-based retest period. This must be put in place before we start testing, so we can’t add it now, but it’s worth considering for next time. We do this, but it takes additional admin time to do, so we charge a fee. The risk based period means we follow HSE guidance and put every appliance in our database for you on a retest period based on the risks associated with the appliance, it’s use, environment etc. Different types of appliance will be on different retest periods. Appliances are given a unique ID number which they keep long term. We set up a diarised plan, and give you the dates up front when we will visit. To do this we charge £1.50 per item + vat, or if your total invoice is less than £250.00 we will charge extra to put this in place. We will advise you on the added cost upfront.

Fixed wiring inspection – EICR

Your building’s wiring will need an inspection every 3-5 years to make sure it is always up to date with the latest building regulations. We can do this for you. Our partner company gives us preferential rates which can be passed on to you. When your inspection is due, let us know so we can provide you with a quote. We will manage the full process for you, including retests.

Fixed Appliances

Electrical equipment that is hard wired also needs regular checks. The electrician doing the EICR will check the wiring up to the socket outlet, but will not check the appliance. This needs doing inline with your EICR, so every 3-5 years usually. It also needs doing at a time when the power can be disconnected.

To do the inspection, the ‘fused spur unit’ (white box with switch on the wall instead of a socket) needs opening and the wires to the appliance removing. The appliance then gets a PAT test. Then it all gets put back together and the power turned back on.

When we did your PAT, if we came across any appliances you would have bought with a plug on, that have now been hard wired, or are integrated, would have been visually inspected and had an earth continuity test carried out between the spur and the appliance. But this is not a full test, which is needed. It’s up to you to organise that with us, your electrician or someone else. If you want us to do it, we can, but it is best done out of hours or at a time when your socket circuits can be isolated. We charge based on time to do this, so would visit site first to provide an estimate.

Are you happy with our work?

If there is anything you are not satisfied with, don’t stew over it, tell me. Get in touch with me, by phone, email etc and tell me, then I can do something about it. If I don’t know, I can’t help.

Have you posted a review of our work?

Reviews are great for us – not only do they tell prospective clients what we’re like as a business, and what service we can offer, but they are great for getting us spotted on search engines. We use Google for reviews, because it is a genuine reviews service but also because it helps our rankings – reviews are a big part of why our website sits near or on top all the time. You can help us stay there – please post a review of our work. If you can mention the name of the technician who did the job that would be an added bonus. You can post a review by following this link – https://g.page/drapattesting?gm

Recommendations and referrals

Do you know anyone who may benefit from our service? If so, don’t worry about data protection rules, just give them our details. If they use us and mention your referral, we’ll give you discount off your next invoice. Can’t say fairer than that.

Thank you for the work

Finally, I want to thank you for this work. Every job we get is appreciated, and is important for our business growth and the lads so they get their wages! If you can pay us nice and quick that would also be lovely too, as it reduces the chance of that end of the month panic whether we have enough cash to pay them!