How many pat tests in a day

[pattester1987]

I recently had an interview for a trainee pat test engineer position. They said the target for the engineers is 400 a day. Is this realistic nowadays?

 

[Moley]

Think about the figures. 8 hour day = 480 minutes. So, you need to PAT each item in around 1 minute. Impossible to do it properly. Now, if all you are doing is sticking stickers on..........

 

[pattester1987]

Think about the figures. 8 hour day = 480 minutes. So, you need to PAT each item in around 1 minute. Impossible to do it properly. Now, if all you are doing is sticking stickers on..........

That's what he said. You'd do 1 a minute. I'm presuming they're saying 400 so they get you to do as many as possible. Or they expect you to just stick some of the stickers on without checking but don't actually say it.

 

[littlespark]

I just spent today PAT-ing a factory. 90 items, took me 4 hours. Mostly office equipment, some power tools.
Had to walk around searching for things, crawling under desks to get to PC's. Looking for equipment that was on the list last year, but no longer on site, and the addition of just as many new items.

400 a day is completely ridiculous.

 

[Moley]

It would take longer than 1 minute for a proper PA Tester to do a full test, especially class I with a 10A earth bond. Even if you use a very basic GO/NO GO tester you would still be struggling even if everything was lined up in front of you.

 

[LukeD]

better to work in aldi.. PAT testing for 99.9% of the time is a race to the bottom .They just want a "pass" and a sticker" .Same as EICR's !!! Its not controlled and anyone can do it .Dont waste your timre

 

[GBDamo]

I recently had an interview for a trainee pat test engineer position. They said the target for the engineers is 400 a day. Is this realistic nowadays?

it's not possible, it's an interview question designed to select those with no scruples.

 

[Moley]

it's an interview question designed to select those with no scruples.

I REALLY hope that you are right.

 

[westward10]

I presume this is a large company who get the work by putting in rock bottom prices, the only way to cover the job is for the individual on site to "test" hundreds in a day. They have zero interest in the job being done correctly, they are the scourge of our industry.

 

[ferg]

Was the 1 a minute comment related to on target earnings or an actual number of tests you are expected to complete?
Either way it's absolute tosh.

 

[pattester1987]

Was the 1 a minute comment related to on target earnings or an actual number of tests you are expected to complete?
Either way it's absolute tosh.

Not sure. He used the word quota so..... I don't know. I'm a commercial plumber, but 40 this year and have been looking for a way out of it for a while now

 

[westward10]

Not sure. He used the word quota so..... I don't know. I'm a commercial plumber, but 40 this year and have been looking for a way out of it for a while now

Is it a big company?

 

[nicebutdim]

Not sure. He used the word quota so..... I don't know. I'm a commercial plumber, but 40 this year and have been looking for a way out of it for a while now

This route would would quickly become very tiresome.

 

[RetiredNY]

Responding from the USA here, I have no idea what a pat test is, that said I've never done 400 of anything in one workday.

 

[Moley]

Responding from the USA here, I have no idea what a pat test is, that said I've never done 400 of anything in one workday.

PAT, Portable Appliance Testing. The name has now been changed to ISITEE (In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment) but everyone still calls it PAT. Very basically it tests the electrical safety of equipment.

 

[GBDamo]

Responding from the USA here, I have no idea what a pat test is, that said I've never done 400 of anything in one workday.

portable appliance testing, and that's self explanatory.

In an ideal world, as your visit is booked in on site, the customer has arranged for each department to collect all their appliances in a convenient location where the confirm the presence of all items against last year's list, delete retired items and add new items to the test schedule. Then you can swiftly visually inspect them, check the plug top and fuse and carry out the required tests. You then log the results and apply a passed test sticker.

In reality, you turn up and they "didn't know you were coming", last years results are not available and you spend the rest of the day crawling round under desks trying to locate everything you can before doing the above. Fine if you have a pantyhose fetishism but otherwise a right pain in the proverbial.

The 400 a day dreamer will have all the managerial and organisational skills of a seagul so you can guarantee you wont be getting the "ideal world".

You'll be selected for the role on two criteria.

1, You DGAF and will sticker any thing that stands still long enough.

2, You are inexperienced and will work your --- off to achieve the impossible only to see the shortfall down you your own failings and cut corners in an attempt to keep up.

The second is particularly insidious as it destroys good people's confidence and work ethic and ultimately turns them into the first.

I very occasionally do them, when one of our major clients have let a site lapse and are running round panicking. We charge day rate and make no guarantees on 'tests per day'. It gets done at the rate of a person who hates doing it and doesn't have the speed of regular practice. Their requests are getting more infrequent, either they've upped their game or are going elsewhere, both are a win as far as I'm concerned.

 

[DPG]

The term PAT testing is misleading but unfortunately still in wide use. It doesn't only apply to portable appliances, and the biggest part of it is inspection rather than actual testing.

But if you say ISITEE to most people they won't know what you mean.

And as above, 400 is ridiculous. Just remember, if you don't test / inspect things properly and something goes wrong, it's your name on the sticker.

The biggest issue I see is people plugging the appliance into the tester, pressing start and waiting for it to say pass. Without knowing what results they should get, or what tests they should be doing.

I've mentioned before seeing a company testing figure 8 mains leads on a PAT tester. Anyone who understands the testing process will realise the problem here. (spoiler alert - they'll all pass )

 

[pirate]

Crawling around under desks in a busy office, and there hasn't been a vacuumcleaner under there for years, miles of extension leads, and you cant untangle them all so you have to have a long, already tested extension lead in order to check them all, and that's just the start...
one a minute? Absolute rubbish! I maintain you can barely do a FVI on a kettle in that timescale, never mind do the actual test itself and write a label and add the results to an inventory etc....and that's a standalone, truly portable appliance with good access.
Testing a wall-hung heater wired into a FCU? That takes considerably longer. My ethos is don't put your name on a sticker unless you have done the full test...but it seems some have no concerns over such a practice and just sticker away.

 

[LukeD]

Crawling around under desks in a busy office, and there hasn't been a vacuumcleaner under there for years, miles of extension leads, and you cant untangle them all so you have to have a long, already tested extension lead in order to check them all, and that's just the start...
one a minute? Absolute rubbish! I maintain you can barely do a FVI on a kettle in that timescale, never mind do the actual test itself and write a label and add the results to an inventory etc....and that's a standalone, truly portable appliance with good access.
Testing a wall-hung heater wired into a FCU? That takes considerably longer. My ethos is don't put your name on a sticker unless you have done the full test...but it seems some have no concerns over such a practice and just sticker away.

Its all a joke and not policed .

 

[Moley]

I've mentioned before seeing a company testing figure 8 mains leads on a PAT tester. Anyone who understands the testing process will realise the problem here. (spoiler alert - they'll all pass )

Unless you REALLY don't know what you are doing and they fail on an earth bond test ;-)