PAT testing...
Discussion
Hello,
Some advice if you PH's may be kind enough.
I got made redundant a few months ago and I'm struggling to get a foot in anywhere. It doesnt help the dearth of jobs in east Lancashire either.
Anyway, my attention was drawn to a job regarding PAT testing. I looked further into it and there was a course well within my price range etc that i was considering.
Now I know ideally i'd have a more glittering career in electronics but circumstances unfortunately state otherwise.
Is this a career that a potential newbie could get into as an employee of a bigger company?? I dont want to shelling out on already thin finances and then find out its alot tougher to get a career in this field...
anyone??
Many thanks.
MM
Some advice if you PH's may be kind enough.
I got made redundant a few months ago and I'm struggling to get a foot in anywhere. It doesnt help the dearth of jobs in east Lancashire either.
Anyway, my attention was drawn to a job regarding PAT testing. I looked further into it and there was a course well within my price range etc that i was considering.
Now I know ideally i'd have a more glittering career in electronics but circumstances unfortunately state otherwise.
Is this a career that a potential newbie could get into as an employee of a bigger company?? I dont want to shelling out on already thin finances and then find out its alot tougher to get a career in this field...
anyone??
Many thanks.
MM
I don't think there is enough work around for a person just to be doing PAT testing only.
IME its an additional service provided by electricians (as a sideline to their main business) OR a large firm with lots of electrical appliances might send one of their site staff/caretakers on this course so they can do their own PAT testing in-house.
IME its an additional service provided by electricians (as a sideline to their main business) OR a large firm with lots of electrical appliances might send one of their site staff/caretakers on this course so they can do their own PAT testing in-house.
Countdown said:
I don't think there is enough work around for a person just to be doing PAT testing only.
IME its an additional service provided by electricians (as a sideline to their main business) OR a large firm with lots of electrical appliances might send one of their site staff/caretakers on this course so they can do their own PAT testing in-house.
+1IME its an additional service provided by electricians (as a sideline to their main business) OR a large firm with lots of electrical appliances might send one of their site staff/caretakers on this course so they can do their own PAT testing in-house.
From experience (albeit a long time ago) this is spot on. The electrical contractors I was working for at the time only did this sort of thing as a side service and not that regularly as it is time based (yearly etc.). Sadly there wasn't a great deal of money in it hence greater focus on tendering and installing new services etc.
I did some PAT testing once and it was mind numbingly boring too so is certainly not a career move that would be good for you (more of a fill in if anything).
It is an extremely competitive industry and most Pat Testing work is outsourced to specialised companies not done in house now as it is much cheaper to outsource.
Don't even think about trying to start your own company, it will be extremely difficult to get new customers at a good margin in the current environment. There is large overcapacity in the industry and downward pressure on prices.
Non-specialist electrical contractors are not really interested in the work and cannot compete with the specialists anyway.
If you want to earn a living form pat testing the best option will be to join a company specialising in it. But be warned it is hard work to compete the number of tests required and as mentioned it is repetitive work. Having said that you will work in a large variation of locations and environments and meet lots of different people. Expect to earn £18 to £25k.
Also some of the Pat testing are not what I would call ideal employers. PM me if you want to know what ones to avoid.
Don't even think about trying to start your own company, it will be extremely difficult to get new customers at a good margin in the current environment. There is large overcapacity in the industry and downward pressure on prices.
Non-specialist electrical contractors are not really interested in the work and cannot compete with the specialists anyway.
If you want to earn a living form pat testing the best option will be to join a company specialising in it. But be warned it is hard work to compete the number of tests required and as mentioned it is repetitive work. Having said that you will work in a large variation of locations and environments and meet lots of different people. Expect to earn £18 to £25k.
Also some of the Pat testing are not what I would call ideal employers. PM me if you want to know what ones to avoid.
The cleaning company who pretend to clean our offices
also offer a PAT testing service, the guy who does it has
had no training at all and does not acknowledge that he needs any,
He told me that he plugs 'things' in and if a green tick appears its ok
but if a red cross shows it's broken.
I quizzed him on his visual checks first but all i got was a shrug.
Hence we use our own qualified guy's for our 'stuff'.
also offer a PAT testing service, the guy who does it has
had no training at all and does not acknowledge that he needs any,
He told me that he plugs 'things' in and if a green tick appears its ok
but if a red cross shows it's broken.
I quizzed him on his visual checks first but all i got was a shrug.
Hence we use our own qualified guy's for our 'stuff'.
its boring as hell, I only PAT test for friends who own a business. PAT Testing offices are even worse as your digging out leads unplugging things, then put it all back together. The Best place is actually workshops as you can generaly round up most of the stuff and place it on a table and test them that way.
I PAT tested the stuff for my company last year, But this year I will be getting in a PAT testing company to do it.
I PAT tested the stuff for my company last year, But this year I will be getting in a PAT testing company to do it.
As others have said, PAT testing isnt really a viable option for making a career of solely.
The thing with the PAT testing companies requiring you to test 'X' amount of items per day in order to receive something close to a reasonable days pay just encourage shoddy testing with missed faults in order to clear the required job numbers - couple this with people without any or very little electrical knowledge or understanding doing a day pat testing course and problem is compounded further.
Work is better than no work, but you will soon become extremely bored pat testing day in day out
The thing with the PAT testing companies requiring you to test 'X' amount of items per day in order to receive something close to a reasonable days pay just encourage shoddy testing with missed faults in order to clear the required job numbers - couple this with people without any or very little electrical knowledge or understanding doing a day pat testing course and problem is compounded further.
Work is better than no work, but you will soon become extremely bored pat testing day in day out
Couple of years ago I looked at the whole PAT thing for the company I was working for and found out a few things:
You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
skeggysteve said:
Couple of years ago I looked at the whole PAT thing for the company I was working for and found out a few things:
You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Not shouting at you, just wondering how - You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Without any special equipment (ie test instruments) how are you going to test the appliances/equipment?
Prove you're a 'competent' person without any formal training (The certificate would go hand in hand with the training)
Edited by Capita on Friday 6th January 23:35
Capita said:
Not shouting at you, just wondering how -
Without any special equipment (ie test instruments) how are you going to test the appliances/equipment?
Prove you're a 'competent' person without any formal training (The certificate would go hand in hand with the training)
Simply put, you can't! All you'd be able to do would be carry out a visual and functional inspection. It would be easy to argue that most people are competent to do that. However the checks for electrical safety do go beyond that, and you'd need to be able to prove you were competent (either by extensive experience with using test equipment or by showing a certificate) and you'd defiantly need equipment that was both calibrated and fully working.Without any special equipment (ie test instruments) how are you going to test the appliances/equipment?
Prove you're a 'competent' person without any formal training (The certificate would go hand in hand with the training)
Edited by Capita on Friday 6th January 23:35
Cyberprog said:
Simply put, you can't! All you'd be able to do would be carry out a visual and functional inspection. It would be easy to argue that most people are competent to do that. However the checks for electrical safety do go beyond that, and you'd need to be able to prove you were competent (either by extensive experience with using test equipment or by showing a certificate) and you'd defiantly need equipment that was both calibrated and fully working.
Yeah I know, it was more aimed at skeggysteve to answer mate, rather than someone who knew the answer -I was extremely curious to hear how to pat test without any special equipment (other than a pen and sticky labels!)jas xjr said:
I worked for a nationally know construction company. One of my many roles was to carry out PAT testing. I was given a video to watch at home, as my training. And off I went. Not sure if I carried out the tests correctly or not. Nobody cared. As long as some testing was going on.
Yep, sounds about right to be honest with some places - as long as its got an in date label on thats all the matters..........until that one time when something goes wrong!Capita said:
skeggysteve said:
Couple of years ago I looked at the whole PAT thing for the company I was working for and found out a few things:
You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Not shouting at you, just wondering how - You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Without any special equipment (ie test instruments) how are you going to test the appliances/equipment?
Prove you're a 'competent' person without any formal training (The certificate would go hand in hand with the training)
Edited by Capita on Friday 6th January 23:35
98elise said:
Capita said:
skeggysteve said:
Couple of years ago I looked at the whole PAT thing for the company I was working for and found out a few things:
You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Not shouting at you, just wondering how - You do not need a training course.
You do not need a certificate to do PAT.
You do not need any special equipment.
You do need to be a 'competent person'.
You do need to be able to read and write.
You do need to stick a sticker (available online for about £5/1000) and write on it.
And some other stuff about record keeping - very boring!
In summary I think the whole PAT thing is a con.
No doubt the sparkies/PAT people will shout at me but I'm just say what I found out.
Without any special equipment (ie test instruments) how are you going to test the appliances/equipment?
Prove you're a 'competent' person without any formal training (The certificate would go hand in hand with the training)
Edited by Capita on Friday 6th January 23:35
Competence is gained from a number of things, but having formal training is far the easiest way to prove it to a client. If I go to a new site, they do not know how long I have been doing the job, how experienced I am, how knowledgable or capable I am regarding their machinery, so providing proof of training and qualifications is one way (and the easiest way) to prove that I am competent enough to be let near it or in some cases even allowed onto the site - this isnt specifically regarding pat testing btw but the same point applies.
The law doesn't dictate how you test, but that wasn't the issue.
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