Standard Terms & Conditions of Business
All Portable Appliance Testing will be carried out in accordance with the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Code of Practice for In-Service and Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment 5thEdition.
The IEE's code of practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment does not deal with the legislation relating to the supply of equipment whether new or second hand, to a third party by the way of sale or other method. Ian Cross PAT Services will not routinely test any equipment which is intended for supply to a third party.
Any previous records of tests are to be made available, if possible, to Ian Cross PAT Services before testing begins.
A Duty Holder, a competent and responsible person, shall be provided by the client to meet our Ian Cross PAT Services test engineer, to advise on any site safety information needed and any potential hazards when working at the customer's premises and to also ensure the availability of appliances for testing.
Ian Cross PAT Services accepts no liability for injury, loss or damage for appliances that are made available or are inaccessible during the agreed testing/inspection period.
The client must ensure that any critical information or data has been protected or backed up prior to the start of the inspection and testing.
Ian Cross PAT Services provides insurance cover for public liability. Ian Cross PAT Services accept no liability for the business interruption, loss of data or business information, losses to business related services or loss to business profits. Ian Cross PAT Services accepts no liability for injury, loss or damage for appliances that are found to be faulty before or after the inspection and testing.
Ian Cross PAT Services assumes the client understands the nature of the tests conducted on the appliances and the inspection and testing is carried out solely at the clients own risk.
IT Equipment (File Servers, Mail Servers Etc.)
Systems such as file servers, mail servers, network switches/hubs and telecommunication equipment will not be inspected or tested by Ian Cross PAT Services without the express permission of the client. In the event of this equipment not being able to be switched off these items will receive a Formal Visual Inspection only. The client shall ensure that any critical information or data has been protected or backed up prior to the start of the inspection and testing.
IT equipment will not be shut down by Ian Cross PAT Services unless express permission by the client and Ian Cross PAT Services will not undertake the reboot or start-up procedures of IT equipment, this will be at the sole responsibility of the client.
Telecommunication Equipment, (PABX, ISDN boxes, etc.)
These systems will not be unplugged to be tested as they are supplied by the telephone companies and once installed are rarely switched off. The appliances will receive a formal visual inspection only.
Memory or Programmable Appliances
Equipment such as video recorders, clocks, central heating system timers, and burglar alarms, etc that lose their programmed memory when disconnected from the mains electrical supply, will only be unplugged and tested by Ian Cross PAT Services with the express permission of the client. It will be the responsibility of the client to arrange for the reprogramming of this equipment, if necessary.
Access of Appliances
Equipment can only be tested if Ian Cross PAT Services have easy access to its plug. If the plug is inaccessible, for example behind heavy, awkward objects, then the equipment will not be tested.
All rooms, offices, buildings must be unlocked to gain access in order to test appliances. Ian Cross PAT Services reserve the right to charge their non-productive hourly rate if the engineer has to wait for room to be opened, unlocked or made available.
Minimum Charge
A minimum invoice charge of £65.00 will be applied to each location.
A location is defined as an area where the test sites are adjacent to, or within 250 meters of each other.
Mileage Charge
Where a client has multiple sites the site closest to DN15 0AR will not be charged. All other sites will be charged at a rate of 25p per mile return.
Invoices & Payments
All invoices will be sent to a valid e-mail address in PDF format.
Payment terms are strictly payment upon completion of on-site testing or invoice unless previously agreed in writing.
Ian Cross PAT Services accepts payments by either cheque, cash or BACS.
Cancellation Charges
Ian Cross PAT Services reserves the right to charge a cancellation fee of £65.00 if less than 48 hours notice is provided. If the job is cancelled on the day of the scheduled testing or the premises are closed or the engineer cannot gain entry a fee of £130.00 will be charged.
Non Productive Work/Testing
Ian Cross PAT Services reserves the right to charge an hourly rate of £25.00 per hour for non-productive time where the engineer is unable to perform testing due to circumstances outside of the control of Ian Cross PAT Services.
Test Results and Certification
The ownership of all test results and certificates remains the property of Ian Cross PAT Services until all invoices are paid in full. Upon receipt of cleared payment the test results and certification will be sent to a valid e-mail address provided by the client.
METHOD STATEMENT
Electrical Testing. Portable appliances.
Overview.
On arrival our engineer will meet with the clients Duty Holder to establish what areas are to be reviewed and what items within those areas are to be tested. Ideally a site plan should be made available. Any risks or hazards should be clearly identified. Protective clothing, should it be required, must be made available by the client.
Each appliance will need to be powered down by the client or their nominated employee, switched off and unplugged from its supply. Where computers are concerned, it will also be necessary to disconnect them from the network (if connected), work in-progress will need to be saved and shut down. Any loss of information caused by the failure to comply will be the sole responsibility of the client.
Testing of portable appliances will involve each appliance being taken out of service for approximately ten minutes, during which time a visual inspection will be carried out followed by several appropriate automated electrical tests. These tests will include earth continuity, insulation resistance, earth leakage and load tests. Other tests may be made if deemed necessary or appropriate.
Minor remedial repairs to appliances under test, such as fuse replacement and plug-top replacement, or re-making will be carried out on site by our engineers. A view will need to be taken in consultation with the Duty Holder at the time of discovery should any more serious failures be encountered.
File servers may need to be tested by special arrangement to avoid major disruption.
Procedures & Equipment Used.
All PAT testing is undertaken using professional computerised PAT test instruments; currently these are all of the Apollo 500+ model from Seaward Electronics.
Each appliance will identified by a unique number running from 0001 to however many items there are on site.
Each item is identified by number, description and location within the resulting test data and is affixed with a PAT sticker stating its identification number, tested date and the name of the engineer that carried out the test.
A full visual inspection is carried out on each item prior to any electrical testing being undertaken. This inspection involves a detailed physical inspection of the item and cable to check for any visual defects or damage, the removal of the plug-top cover to check for correct wiring, fusing (compatibility to appliance being protected and cable size downstream), terminal and cord-grip tightness.
Remedial work such as replacement of damaged plug-top, incorrectly sized fuse replacements, or badly made-off plug-tops will be carried out at this time.
Following a detailed visual inspection each item is subjected to a number of electrical integrity tests to establish the following: -
1) Earth integrity
2) Insulation resistance
3) Earth leakage
4) Operation
Assuming that the item under test passes all tests, the PAT test instrument records the results and the engineer moves on to the next item. Should it fail, then the engineer will fill out a failure label which will be affixed to the item in a prominent location (or the plug-top may be cut off, depending upon client instructions). At the end of the site visit, a failure sheet containing details of any items that have failed will be signed by the clients’ site representative. The site representative will be presented with one copy, another copy will be sent with the test data results and a final copy retained on our records.
We aim to send the detailed PAT Service documents and Invoice by email to the client within three working days.