We hope the information here will help you prepare for your PAT testing appointment in order to minimise disruption to you and your business.

• We need to check every electrical appliance that plugs in; and to be tested it will need to be unplugged so it’s best to prepare for that. 
• We check every mains powered electrical appliance, or detachable part that could be used independently or elsewhere including power leads, power adaptors, supply units, the actual appliance (e.g. a monitor with power lead). We also check chargers for battery operated equipment.
• If something is faulty, like a plug, fuse or the cable we’ll repair it, or recommend further action. Minor repairs are carried out automatically. These include repairing the plug or replacing it, replacing a fuse and repairing the current cable. Anything else is going to need time and extra parts, so we’ll recommend further action or quote a price to do the work.
• At the end of the job (or during it) the engineer will update you with progress, and tell you anything you need to know. They’ll also ask you to review their work on Google – we’d really appreciate if you can.
• Within a day or two you’ll receive your PAT Testing Certificate Report as a PDF attached to an email. 

On arrival, if your site is bigger than one room, it would benefit the engineer if you can show him/her around (if we’ve not been before). This is a great time to discuss the logistics of the job. 

Who is coming to do the job?

One of our highly trained engineers. Presently that is Kyle, Rob, Richard, Jane and Lee. Every person is trained to work to our high standards, so rest assured whoever comes you’re in for a good service. 

If the job is outside the North East we may be using a contractor; if so, we will get your permission first. We only use contractors we trust and have vetted ourselves.

For electrical inspections (EICR) we use fully qualified electricians, who we have worked with long term. Pete Oldroyd is our main inspector; he holds NICEIC registration.

Make sure nothing gets missed – electrical equipment could be hiding in a drawer or cupboard – if so we probably won’t see it; 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 could be missed – or give us permission to check cupboards and drawers.

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, but you’ll find it easier and cheaper if you get them to bring it in on the day of our appointment. Same applies if you have engineers with tools in a van.

Equipment at height

The quote provided doesn’t include the use of ladders or platform lifts; as a general rule we do not do working at height. If you have appliances that can’t be accessed by normal reach you’ll need to bring them to ground level for testing. If you want us to test them at height special arrangements will need to be made, which will incur additional costs.

Kitchen appliances that are integrated into your units cause an issue as we can’t check them fully, but we’re not going to risk damaging your kitchen so we do not remove them. If we can get to the plug, great, if we can’t then we will do the best we can. It may be possible to do an earth continuity test through the spur unit or a nearby socket but we can’t test for insulation without removing the power leads from the mains, which is a different test procedure altogether, called Fixed Appliance Testing. 

Servers and other equipment that ‘can’t’ be turned off

If you have a server system you don’t want to turn off on this occasion; it will need a full test at some point. For now we can do a visual inspection but we shouldn’t do this every time. 

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

To be tested, an appliance needs to be unplugged; so it can’t be being used. The user will have to leave their workspace whilst the appliance is being tested; it won’t take long. Computers need saving and shutting down. If you use ‘banks of desks’ then the full bank will need shutting down at the same time. This makes the testing process quicker, but also allows us to tidy messy cables, and assess the use of extensions. It also removes the risk of the wrong plug being pulled out.

Not all plugs are the same – standard PAT testing focus’s on standard electrical equipment. Referred to as BS1363 standard plugs have 3-pins and fuses up to 13amps. These are the plugs we all have at home. They could be the white ones we unscrew, variations of them, phone chargers, etc.

Other plugs are called commando or industrial plugs, and are very different. Yellow 11ov, Blue 230 and Red 400v as well as other specialist items such as ‘Powercon’. All these require specialist adaptors to test, require a much more time consuming inspection, and invariably need more repairs, so we charge more to test them. If you have these items, and your estimate does not specify them make sure you tell us upfront so we can make the adjustments.

Also, if our engineer is not expecting them he/she won’t be carrying the specialist adaptors needed (as there are many variations) so won’t be able to test them at this appointment.

We do minor repairs automatically. A minor repair is repair or replace a faulty ’13a’ plug; replace a plug fuse (up to 13a), repair an existing cable. These are all done free, including supply of replacement plugs and fuses. If another repair is needed, or other parts we will quote then and do it if we can, or fail the appliance and provide a quote to do the work at another time.

Are you happy with our work or have further questions? 

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.

Will you please review 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. Have a look at our latest reviews, below.

On completion of the job the technician will ask you to review his work whilst it is fresh in your memory, we will really appreciate you doing this. You can post a review by following this link – https://g.page/drapattesting?gm

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

Our technician will tell you what to do with the appliance – if it needs removing from service and disposing of; do that. If it can be repaired he will offer 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.

Following completion of the job, we will provide you with your PAT Testing Certificate Report, sent by email as a PDF document. Keep it safe as you will need it.

• The report lists all items tested; the ID number and test results obtained. 
• The Advisory notes report lists anything you need to know about, repairs etc. 
• The Fails report lists any items that fail. 

PAT testing long term

PAT testing should be carried out as often as it is needed to ensure your electrical appliance stays safe. This should be determined by a risk assessment. In reality you have 3 options:

1. Get a risk assessment done by someone competent in electrical safety, to determine what action you need to take and how often. For every appliance type and environment in your workplace. A costly, time consuming option. Then get PAT testing or other maintenance done to meet the requirements, or
2. Get us to set you up on a risk-based retest period, where each appliance is tested this year, and again in 12 months, at which point it is reviewed for retests based on HSE guidance, and then we manage the retest periods on your behalf. Additional charges may be incurred. 
3. Do what almost everyone else does and get your equipment tested every year, or sooner for high risk environments.

Whichever option you choose we will send you a reminder by email when they retest due by date is approaching. That reminder, is sent only by our team using our website domain, so don’t believe dodgy emails from anyone else. Reminders are usually sent around 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.

Free site surveys

If you are worried about anything in advance of the job being done, or have any questions, why don’t we arrange a chat? I am happy to speak to you on the phone or even visit your site to discuss your situation, or clarify any of the above.

If we do a full site survey we can give you a guaranteed fixed price for the job.