Pat Testing

[Bill1958]

Pat tester who did our testing while i was away managed to complete 700 items in 6 hours is this possible your thoughts please. Items were spread far and wide across the school.

[Eddy]

not even close to possible.

I have 500 ish items here, each one, done properly takes min 5 mins on average.

Using this maths 700 X 5 mins - 3500 mins

3500 minutes/ 60 = 58 hours
This of course, does not allow for tea breaks, moving around site, interruptions ETC

[Vera]

That's about 30 seconds per item.

Definitely question that one... Either he is charging for more items than he tested (unlikely) or he is not testing properly..

[eggy]

Was it a single person or a team?
We used to have a team.of 4 do ours & took between a day or day & half.
Also how many were visuals.

[Bill1958]

My thoughts exactly no way could he have tested properly. My business manager does not want me to complain so frustrating. Thanks all i have highlighted to her in an email my concerns.

[Dexter]

My thoughts exactly no way could he have tested properly. My business manager does not want me to complain so frustrating. Thanks all i have highlighted to her in an email my concerns.

Based on the other comments and my own experience there is no way that these items have been tested. You could have potentially dangerous equipment in your building and your business manager's inaction is allowing this! He or she has not thought it through and is being negligent.

But you need to persuade. I would get a quote from a couple of firms (based on the number of items) and ask for an estimate of time required for testing to take place and how many people would be required to meet it. You may need to be careful in your choice of companies as they often have arrangements for passing on excess work between them so may have allegiance to each other. I would present their responses to the business manager. If (when) the responses support your fears I would recommend that payment is not made as you are no further on in knowing what equipment is safe to use and essentially you will need to get it all retested. Your paperwork (evidence of testing) is not supported by the facts.

I suspect that the tester is subcontracted. I spoke to our PAT tester over the half term break and he explains that he gets 50p per item, no mileage or payment for time travelling. He went to a job the previous week where he spent 2.5 hours travelling and work time to test 12 items - he was pleased that they agreed to pay him £20 on that occasion. It doesn't excuse what has happened to you but I can see how subcontractors may not be too concerned with reputational risk if they are treated shabbily.

[Nail]

Have all the items been stickered?

Even to just manage that in the time seems quite impressive.

[Keyolder]

Have all the items been stickered?

Even to just manage that in the time seems quite impressive.

I was just thinking the same thing?

[Bill1958]

Hi all update, manager has now decided for me to pursue and question the company concerned. The number items final figure is 1035 which is quite obvious impossible to complete in 5 1/2 hours by one person thanks for all your input.

[Taz]

Unless every single item was out in one place (Hall etc), labels were printed rather than hand written, and there was a team of say 3 or 4, there's no way that's possible.

I'd be asking if they were asked to visually test or physically test.

I can do our whole school in about a week during a half term. That's with me knowing exactly where everything is, doing nothing other than testing and not getting interrupted every 5 minutes. Going from room to room, testing, hand writing the labels, and either filling in the sheets or taking the laptop around with me and filling in the records sheets as I go.

A lot of these companies don't test everything. They may do a percentage of items but the rest will be visually tested. I spoke to my electrician a while ago about testing, and he said for him to do a school properly, it would cost more than most schools/companies would want to pay, so generally he doesn't do it.

[wjt28]

We had PAT testers in last summer. just over 800 items in two days.
Which sounds ok until you analyse further;
They turned up on day 1 at 09:30, began work at 10::, left for dinner at 11:30, returned at 14:00, restarted at 14:30 and left site at 15:30.
Day 2 was the same, but they didn't return from dinner at all.
I then discovered they had passed three items with bare wire exposed and two which simply didn't work.
One phone call later and they sent a different pair and have been told their services will not be required again. Upshot is it looks like I'll be doing it in future-which I'm comfortable with.
Not a chance were your items checked.

[adonis2]

Have all the items been stickered?

Even to just manage that in the time seems quite impressive.

Don't they call that the lick and stick method,
I do the testing myself in house and doing it properly, checking inside the plugs that the wires are tight takes time.

For those that don't do the testing themselves, the bulk of the fails are loose and damaged wires (cleaners vacuum always) that usually you fix as you go but it adds to the time.

[Jubbs]

In house is not a bad idea, you can do areas as and when the breaks come round.

A good idea to go on a course so you understand how PATS work, esp round computers or anything with a chip in it, although you are not required to pass a test yourself the PAT needs to be calibrated once a year to conform to standards.

[Rich1963]

No way can that be done. He's just had a look and written up the tickets.....

[outdoorman]

We had 402 items tested this year
They started at 07:30 and were completed my midday.

There were 3 men.

They did not stop for a break

134 items each in 270 minutes = 2 items per minute.

They used a Seaward Prime Test 300 machine

They noted two failures due to split leads