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Pat test certificates - for Council event


djandydee

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HI Guys

 

Our policy for PAT testing is to attach Asset Labels on equipment and cable labels on leads. All numbers are unique and allows identification. We have a Europa 2000+ tester and do all our own testing.

All new equipment is tested and recorded on the tester. We have the free software for dumping which gives us roughly 2000 certificates. I have never printed out a cert as the information is stored on our tester and a quick barcode scan or search allows us to proove test. All testing is done annually on the quieter Jan/Feb months.

Recently our council have started to ask for Insurance and a filled in proof of insurance from our provider ACJ which is quite tedious, plus Risk assesment, Method statement and now have asked for a copy of PAT certs.

I want to provide this and want to know how other companies deal with this. Are you sending the entire set of certs in advance? Do you send a cert of the tester and or the Engineer? I do not know which equipment is on the gig as I have not prepped it yet - There is time for alternatives. The only way to satisfy them is to send the entire Dump.

Perhaps there is better software which hooks into Rental Desk.

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This is a classic case of people with a little knowledge being dangerous. We all know that PAT is just a method of showing that an appliance is "safe" as per the electrical Safety regs which are the legislation. I would just dump them all to them with a note to say that we don't know exactly which items we will be using, but they are in there somewhere.
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We work similarly to you. I just send a letter on our headed paper saying "We certify that all items are tested and found to comply with HSE & IET guidelines and industry best practice etc...". Most of these people have just been told "you need this from the company" and don't know what it means, so as long as they've got something that they can show they did their bit when they get audited.
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I've lost count of the number of times I've prepared PAT paperwork for a council venue, only to find that nobody asks for it once we're there. The people making the requests usually aren't anywhere to be seen during load-in.

 

The council electrical inspectors that I've spoken to understand that they're not going to get an exact list of every item at the gig. Sometimes I'll prepare a separate list of the main items (things like console, amp racks, etc.) and give them the rest of the register to look through if they can be bothered.

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Many years ago when PAT was the latest obsession for local councils before they discovered risk assesments, method statements and then, last year's obsession, dressing the entire site in hi-vis, I worked for a PA company that dealt with many, many different local councils. All, at some point, would ask for PAT certificates. My solution was to make the entire set of documentation available online via a website link. In 10 years of doing this I can verify through the site logs that not one single council or appointed safety officer ever looked at the certificates.

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

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I used to work at a producing venue which regularly sent productions out on tour. We were almost never asked for proof of completion of a PAT - we carried out a full maintenance and testing programme every summer, and pretty much every venue we toured equipment into was happy with an assurance of that.

 

On the one occasion I remember someone getting arsey about it, it was explained to them that all the test results were held in a central database on the office computer after being uploaded from the PAT tester, and that it would be far easier if they just accepted our assurances that all was in order. Printed confirmation was insisted upon, however. A phone call was made to 'base', the database file opened, the fax modem set as the print destination, and 'send' was pressed. I think their fax machine had spewed out about a couple of dozen pages, without even getting close to any of the kit we had on tour with us, by the time they begged us to make it stop. They never asked us again ...

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I used to work at a producing venue which regularly sent productions out on tour. We were almost never asked for proof of completion of a PAT - we carried out a full maintenance and testing programme every summer, and pretty much every venue we toured equipment into was happy with an assurance of that.

 

On the one occasion I remember someone getting arsey about it, it was explained to them that all the test results were held in a central database on the office computer after being uploaded from the PAT tester, and that it would be far easier if they just accepted our assurances that all was in order. Printed confirmation was insisted upon, however. A phone call was made to 'base', the database file opened, the fax modem set as the print destination, and 'send' was pressed. I think their fax machine had spewed out about a couple of dozen pages, without even getting close to any of the kit we had on tour with us, by the time they begged us to make it stop. They never asked us again ...

 

I like your style! Malicious compliance at its best http://www.blue-room.org.uk/public/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif

 

I've been told a few times that "Everything has to have green labels before we let you plug it in". Everything is tested. There is a database. I carry a roll of green labels in case of such emergencies.

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Many years ago when PAT was the latest obsession for local councils before they discovered risk assessments, method statements and then, last year's obsession, dressing the entire site in hi-vis...

 

I was commenting to a colleague only today that there always seems to be an 'obsession of the year' thing going on that included all those things you mention at various times, along with general "Elf N Safety" being trotted out as a reason why something was difficult or impossible.

 

I submit that right at this moment, 'GDPR' is the default reason of why things can't be done, aren't being done, or must be done. No matter how much hi-vis, PAT labels, or method statements I turn up with, those GDPRists are having none of it. I need to get with the times.

 

:-)

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The "obsession of the year" thing is down to flippant safety courses where people are told things like "everything must have a green label" and "you must get paperwork".

 

As noted above, nobody actually reads the paperwork. But unfortunately it's there so they can pass the buck if there's an accident.

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I've been told a few times that "Everything has to have green labels before we let you plug it in". Everything is tested. There is a database. I carry a roll of green labels in case of such emergencies.

 

"We're Rangers supporters. We use blue labels."

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