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A proportionate response
Clearly , combined inspection and testing measures should be appropriate to the particular risk posed by the equipment and its environment . For example , smaller offices or workplaces with only a few electrical appliances , and a staff of limited technical ability , might be regarded as relatively low risk environments . Here a responsible attitude might be regarded as a regular process of formal user checks and visual inspection , combined with some limited periodic testing .
A different view , however , might need to be taken by a large organisation , with different departments having many different types of electrical equipment used by staff . In this case , ensuring the safety of appliances may not only be a matter of ensuring the correct test equipment is available , but also having the ability to show that the right tests have been performed at the right time in the correct sequence - with records of test levels and results .
To meet this need , continuous technical innovation has ensured that portable appliance test instrumentation has kept pace with the changing demands of the workplace to meet the needs of everyone who has a responsibility for ensuring the safe use of electrical equipment .
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Evolution of PAT science
Over the years , electrical safety test instrumentation has evolved to make testing faster , more efficient and cost effective for those involved – and all of this has been achieved without any compromise to the integrity of the testing being undertaken .
The initial demand for in-service electrical appliance testers was met largely by two distinct types of tester . At the basic level there were relatively simple to operate pass / fail checkers capable of carrying out fundamental tests to provide an immediate ‘ go / no go ’ display . For more demanding applications more sophisticated testers were available that incorporated a greater range of tests and the ability to store and download test data into PC based record keeping systems .
Over the years the broad distinctions between manual and automatic
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Modern testers have the ability to create and store health and safety inspections outside of portable appliance testing . |
testers have remained , but the obvious differentiation between the two is closing . All portable appliance testers now have much greater functionality with the ability to link to specialist accessories for more comprehensive testing .
Also , as successive IET Codes of Practice have highlighted the benefits of different types of electrical test , PAT manufacturers have responded by including , for example , the necessary technology to test appliance leads and three phase equipment , test RCD trip times , provide different options for insulation test voltages and utilise specialist test currents for earth continuity testing .
Alongside these changing technical demands , recognition of the growing maturity of the PAT market has also been the driver of innovation . For the modern PAT tester , time is money and competitive pressures mean that tests must be undertaken quickly and efficiently , but without affecting the accuracy and reliability of the test results .
To meet this need a whole host of special features and accessories have been introduced . The introduction of barcode labelling of products with automatic recognition of test protocols by the test instrument was an early development , and this was followed by the introduction of Bluetooth connectivity with test accessories such as label printers to speed the test process .
Lightweight , battery powered testers have further improved portability factors and reduced the downtime between tests . Improvements in test management software have allowed records to be updated automatically , reports and certificates to be produced and advance test schedules to be generated .
All round safety management
With developments such as these , the versatility of modern testing technology is increasingly being used as part of more general health and safety inspections and assessments .
As well as comprehensive electrical test functions , the most advanced multipurpose PAT tester is now equipped with an onboard risk management tool to help determine retest intervals . This feature is included alongside a built-in digital camera to enable high quality images to be tagged against appliance records for completely traceable record keeping .
These advances mean that visual evidence of all workplace health and safety equipment can be recorded and tagged against inspection records . In addition , the built-in risk assessment capability allows the consideration of a variety of different workplace hazards and corrective actions to be planned and documented easily .
In this way , modern testers with electrical safety as their core function also have the ability to create and store health and safety inspections outside of portable appliance testing , including fire safety and emergency lighting systems .
As an example , for over 10 years the core business of Milton Keynes based FTS Safety Solutions has been the provision of portable appliance testing services for a wide range of industrial and commercial clients .
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Over the last two years the company has grown and expanded its market by incorporating a range of non-electrical tests into its service offering , providing clients with a more comprehensive health and safety testing service . As well as the traditional PAT testing work , FTS now carries out thermal imaging surveys , emergency lighting inspections , fire extinguisher servicing and fire alarm maintenance .
FTS development director Andrew Mitchell attributes the success of these additional services to the Apollo 600 and the data it collects . Andrew says , ‘ We have used Seaward PAT Testing machines since we started the business 10 years ago and I just can ’ t fault them . They are reliable precision pieces of equipment that we have built our business around .’
A recent upgrade to the data logging capabilities of the Apollo 600 has expanded the options available for the creation of special user defined inspection forms to record and store all the vital information associated with work place preventative maintenance tasks , tests and inspections .
This means that users can create ‘ custom inspection ’ forms for nonelectrical health and safety checks in the same way that visual inspection data is logged for appliances . To aid faster working this has also been linked to the inclusion of bespoke lists in dropdown menus requiring less data entry , quicker testing and consistency of data .
The improvements in data handling and storage means FTS test engineers are now working much more efficiently and the company has recently secured the ISO9001 quality management standard .
Andrew Mitchell goes on to say , ‘ Clients have definitely appreciated our ability to provide a single source range of health and safety test and inspection services . Testing the safety of electrical appliances is still the core service for the company , but being able to record the data from other tests and inspections with the PAT tester has significantly reduced the admin activity involved . This has improved our productivity and shortened the time required onsite , which in turn is a cost saving for us and minimises the disruption for our clients .’
In this way , continuous PAT test innovation with a common sense approach at the centre of technology improvements means that adequate safety measures can be effectively maintained in all workplaces without the imposition of an overly excessive test regime .
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Combined inspection and testing measures should be appropriate to the particular risk posed by the equipment and its environment . |
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40 | February 2017 |