OT PAT

[news]

HI

At work we have a Seaward PAT machine, the employee qualified to use it has left and boss wants me to get the testing back in-house.

Our young cleric who looks after safety records and personnel training records has volunteered to be sent on a course, he's quite bright but woefully lacking in qualifications, no physics or maths at GCSE Does he stand much chance of getting on board with electrical power concepts enough to be able to manage the course?

I haven't much idea about electrical wiring and part P but do have a rudimentary knowledge of electrickery from college 43 years ago.

AJH

[Andy Burns]

Can he press a button and operate a biro?

[Bill]

That's the easy bit.

He also needs to be able to spot the potential physical problems such as damaged cable, cracked casings, incorrect fuse fitted in the plug etc. Also to recognise whether it is a class 1 or 2 appliance. Yes I know there is class 3 as well, but if he tries testing one of those he may have real problems.

But in answer to your question, if he is "quite bright" then he will have no problems managing the course.

>

[Tim Watts]

The C&G course (2377) is a two day affair -

If he can manage Ohms law and is reasonably practical, he can do it very easily.

If he is massively flummoxed by exams (computer multi choice) or remembering basic procedures, he will find it hard.

The more he understands *why* the procedures are as they are taught, the less rote remembering he will have to do and the better he will be as a tester.

[Tim Watts]

And Class 0

We had fun getting the bloke to explain that. He did though - after a bit of mental rummaging.

Needless to say, if you found a Class 0 these days, you'd probably fail it.

[DerbyBorn]

A simple check-list procedure will get him into the process. Aim to minimise individual decision making.

[Graham.]

Odd thing is that these classes are supposed to be expressed in Roman numerals, and the Romans didn't have a symbol for zero.

Worse still, there is a Class 0I which is a curious mixture. I think some old audio separates would fall into this class.

[Brian-Gaff]

I was just thinking that. I do not know the machine you mention, but some of the dodgy electricians at the council seem to manage with a kind of hand held device for this sort of thing. it leads them along a bit like going around an art gallery. Brian

[John Rumm]

Older sets of Christmas lights are a good candidate for this...

[Tim Watts]

Blue peter badge for you sir - that is indeed that answer the bloke gave... Took him a while though. Evidently no-one has every bothered asking him until our group turned up!

[tabbypurr]

I always wonderd what 'class' equipment that had bare live bits would fall into. -1? 240?

NT

[whisky-dave]

Isn;t it realy just a cover up, what happens if an item is passed and then it kills or injures someone ? As I've said we have PAT testing done here by an outside company. They've passed an extention lead I'd fail because the outer sheath didn't go as far as the cord grip and the individual live ear th adn nuteral wires could be seen. They failed two 24V 25W antex irons bec ause they could see the earth lead at the end of the iron could be seen. We ll they were obvious the extention lead was under the bench. They also annoying put a sticker on quite a few of my plug-in PSU covering up the output voltage and current rating.

[Malcolm Race]

A PAT test is like a car MoT. It only refers to the condition of the appliance at the time of testing

Malcolm

[Tim Watts]

Then they are incompetent - that is a definite fail (or repair and pass if the job was being done by an in house and helpful chap!)

They do seem to like doing that...

[whisky-dave]

That's what I thought, but so what if someone did die or have an accident f rom using it. It's been electrically tested and was 'fine' a pass sticker was on it, so w ho'd be blamed or would it just be an accident. We could then employ a few admin people to email others to tell them what should have been done and ho w to do it properly and then we could write a report on how we can learn fr om 'our' mistakes, but who made the mistake ? would be my point.

[Malcolm Race]

I would suggest that your company has in place a policy which states (approximately) that 'Before any piece of electrical equipment is used the user checks that the test sticker is in date, the case is not damaged and that nowhere aiong the mains cable can the coloured cores be seen.' - imagine piece of boiler plate covering a*se.

As I said in a previous reply, the test is only valid at the point of test, as a car MoT test does not guarantee the condition of the car once it leaves the testing station as anything could change the condition of the car (appliance) within minutes of the test

Malcolm

[Mike Tomlinson]

En el artículo , Andy Burns escribió:

I'm sure he can operate a game console.

Whew, that's asking a bit much, isn't it? You'll need to give him one and see which way up he holds it.

[Robert]

The C&G course can be a bit OTT for training someone to be competent which is all that is required. There are other providers who run less academic courses and there are also online base courses with assessments.

I did the the 2nd day of the C&G a few years ago and the online test. Two of us who had prior knowledge wizzed through the exam in about

20mins including rechceking carefully and passed with 1 question wrong. Many of the others struggled to finish in the 1 or 2? hours allowed.

[whisky-dave]

nt from using it.

so who'd be blamed or would it just be an accident. We could then employ a few admin people to email others to tell them what should have been done an d how to do it properly and then we could write a report on how we can lear n from 'our' mistakes, but who made the mistake ? would be my point.

Tried that wouldn't work here, most of our users are students not employees so it's not their job to check such things. Also we don;t want all our stu dents suddenly crawling under the benches or looking behind cabinets and se rvers trying to find a label on a 3 pin plug. What happens when there isn;t a lable on the plug ?

the case is not

who's a*se is it covering ?

Yep I know.

Yep I know, which is why I was wondering what the point of the PAT test wou ld be in such a case.

[Paul Herber]

Stick it up your nose!