PAT Testing in house

[Eddy]

We do ours.
2FE primary, about 700 items are tested. Takes a week, which we book in over Easter.
It has saves the school £300/year allowing for staff and equipment costs. so not a mindblowing saving in the greater scheme of things.

With the increase of double insulated items, it has become slightly easier. And i don't test large or fixed items like dishwashers, washing machines etc annually.

[ElGuapo]

Thanks for the advice on this.

[Nail]

Thanks for the advice on this.

What have you decided to do?

[FuseBox]

Our secondary school holds just over 1,500 and the two of us are now expected to have the task completed within three days. It will save the school loads in the long run but there's no afterthought about using the savings to recruit extra staff to help support or to increase our wages.

No doubt they will expect us to complete the job even quicker the following year when we are experienced enough using the new testing kits but i'm looking forward to acting my wage and taking my time..

[ElGuapo]

What have you decided to do?

Personally I think it's better for us to carry on using the outside contractors. The time and hassle it would take me is not worth the saving. I haven't had that discussion with the Head and BM yet though, but I think they will agree.
I often say to them that I'll ask for opinions/advice on this forum and they think it's great. This is one of those occasions.

[Fw18]

We did it in House a few years back to try and save money. Yes, it saved some money but the time lost with being a constant person down in the holidays quickly meant we binned it and got a contractor back in.

It takes the contractor, using 2 testers, 4-5 weeks in the summer hols to go round all items.

Meanwhile the site staff are decorating, odd jobs, and doing much more productive tasks in my opinion.

[sweep]

I do ours in house, I have around 600 items and spread them out over the year but do the majority over easter hols.
First stop safety are doing a PAT machine and online PAT course for £284 at the moment. The tester has to be calibrated every year to keep the life time warranty (£110 roughly collected and delivered)

The worst bit is finding bits that they have hidden away ( --- (The seasonal word only permitted in December) --- lights, charging cables) once you have done a spread sheet its pretty easy to keep on top of. I always test new items even though you don't need to and get them on the spread sheet so you don't forget about them .

The school put me on a C&G electrical installation testing course which i think was a bit OTT just for PAT testing.

[sweep]

I do ours in house, I have around 600 items and spread them out over the year but do the majority over easter hols.
First stop safety are doing a PAT machine and online PAT course for £284 at the moment. The tester has to be calibrated every year to keep the life time warranty (£110 roughly collected and delivered)

The worst bit is finding bits that they have hidden away ( --- (The seasonal word only permitted in December) --- lights, charging cables) once you have done a spread sheet its pretty easy to keep on top of. I always test new items even though you don't need to and get them on the spread sheet so you don't forget about them .

The school put me on a C&G electrical installation testing course which i think was a bit OTT just for PAT testing.

[stunnn]

Hi,
We have always outsourced it as it's a killer.. The money saving is not worth it and as others have said, you have better things to be doing.

However, we also have a PAT testing machine inhouse so that as new things come in they can be PAT tested and registered (Especially useful at --- (The seasonal word only permitted in December) --- with those cheap fairy lights).

Hope that helps,

Stunnn

[gaz6712]

Done it once never again. so got a firm in to do now