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What is a Portable Appliance?
A portable appliance is basically
any piece of equipment connected to the electrical supply by a mains plug. This description, therefore is not confined to industrial tools and equipment, but covers domestic appliances such as televisions, kettles, fridges, radios etc. Even though appliances such as fridges are not expected to be moved around, they still fall under the umbrella of portable appliances as they are connected to the electricity supply by a plug.
Which portable appliances have to be tested?
Any portable electrical equipment used within your business, even those that you would consider to be "domestic appliances" (e.g. the kettle in your staff's restroom) should be tested on a regular basis. A number of insurance companies stipulate that regular programmes of PAT testing must be in place for cover to be effective.
What does the test consist of?
The Portable Appliance Test involves:
• a thorough visual inspection of the appliance, its lead and its plug (including the fuse and internal connections).
• electrical testing to assess whether the item complies with the appropriate safety standards. This testing is performed using specialist equipment that is connected to the item under test. The equipment is used to measure such elements as earth continuity and insulation resistance, and then output a pass/fail result based on these measurements.
• labelling of the equipment stating whether it has passed or failed the test, and giving the date of the next scheduled test.
• completion of a test log showing details of all appliances, with a breakdown of faults.
Our Portable Appliance Testing Engineers are fully qualified, fast and experienced in working within very busy environments. We work closely with clients to ensure that the PAT Testing process is carried out with the
minimum
disruption to the businesses we visit. |