do you need the pat testing qualification

[chris-]

do i need the pat testing qualification or can i just use my pat tester and then keep a log or do you have to give results to niceic or council

 

[DeanoZX7R]

Did the C&G courses a few years back, total waste of time but hey ho, you live & learn. From what I remember anyone competent can pat test but there should be someone within your organisation who is qualified (holds C&G 2377 11&12). I also recall our instructor mentioning that if you sit and fail the C&G PAT exam 3 times (unlikely I know) you are barred from ever PAT testing again! Fair cop I suppose...

 

[Guitarist]

Did the C&G courses a few years back, total waste of time but hey ho, you live & learn. From what I remember anyone competent can pat test but there should be someone within your organisation who is qualified (holds C&G 2377 11&12). I also recall our instructor mentioning that if you sit and fail the C&G PAT exam 3 times (unlikely I know) you are barred from ever PAT testing again! Fair cop I suppose...

Shame they don't do this with drivers!!!

 

[Engineer54]

if you sit and fail the C&G PAT exam 3 times (unlikely I know) you are barred from ever PAT testing again! Fair cop I suppose...

I'd take that with a rather large pinch of salt!! lol

I'd have to ask however, how could a fully qualified electrician ever fail such a course, let alone ever really needing to take such a course in the first place... lol!!!

 

[oldtimer]

I'd take that with a rather large pinch of salt!! lol

I'd have to ask however, how could a fully qualified electrician ever fail such a course, let alone ever really needing to take such a course in the first place... lol!!!

One that has been around for years but never gets over the fear of exams since he thought he left that all at high school

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Ha! You could spend a day at home and work your way through the CoP book with your tester and you'd know it inside out! Spend ~£200 for 2377 plus the time at college, don't think so. It's level 3, same as 2391-10. Do these levels actually mean anything at all?

well i have the C&G 2377 (both of em)..and i can assure you now Archy that they have never seen level three.....its a complete joke...lol....they sit you down in this room with the COP and your just expected to copy down stuff all parrot fashion (probably why i passed)...then they drag some stuff out of a big bin that is either a pass or a fail and get you to pat it....and record the results on a test sheet....and thats it...thats what the course consists of......level three...my arse....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

I'd take that with a rather large pinch of salt!! lol

I'd have to ask however, how could a fully qualified electrician ever fail such a course, let alone ever really needing to take such a course in the first place... lol!!!

well i`d have to ask how ANYONE could fail such a course..lol....i wonder if anyone has?...

 

[Guitarist]

Do they do a 1 day course for kitchen fitters? Just so that they can test appliances "relevant to their job"....

 

[GLENNSPARK]

Do they do a 1 day course for kitchen fitters? Just so that they can test appliances "relevant to their job"....

well judging by some of the work we see...lol...

 

[oldtimer]

Just to point out that there is big changes coming to PAT either way I have it so lets see how it plays

 

[polo1]

Just to point out that there is big changes coming to PAT either way I have it so lets see how it plays

Do tell!

 

[oldtimer]

Do tell!

Well if you go to the PAT forum you would have seen the discussion so let me simplify They regulators in the know have asked a professor to do a study and report back to them a government minister has waded in to say lets make it easier to understand but also they can no longer ignore fixed appliances only problem is that the non electrician PAT testers cannot and will not be authorised to work on any equipment that is connected into a FCU. The other thing is they want to relaunch "PAT" and the colleges doing the courses are calling it II&TEE (formally PAT)as per the COP and because of the PAT label everybody thinks it is for portable appliances only but I&T is for fixed wiring and II&TEE is for any appliance connected to fixed wiring so this means storage heaters,cookers,built in ovens will have to be tested .

So why do it well they know its a mess they know that someone is going to challenge a employer for not testing a fixed appliance one day plus 300-400 PAT tests with one individual will not stand up hence why they will do a relaunch making it look like they are only following the report that they instigated in the first place so what will this mean well PAT companies will have to have an electrician on board for fixed or stationary appliances plus they could loose a lot of the domestic market as economically they cannot afford 2 visits when a electrician can do both.

 

[Guitarist]

oldtimer, is the consensus that they will let 3-day PA testers do "limited" electrical works eventually?

 

[oldtimer]

oldtimer, is the consensus that they will let 3-day PA testers do "limited" electrical works eventually?

Well no they have made a rod for their own back here. I went on my II&TEE (formally PAT) at the end of last year and what got all this started was me saying to the lecturer I could not find the PAT testing course on the college website but stumbled on it with In-Service inspection & Testing of Electrical Appliances and he mentioned that we could be seeing changes as PAT is in need of a relaunch plus they could no longer ignore the fixed equipment connected via the fcu ok I said I take it the non electrician PAT tester will have to get a course that no doubt the Schemies will invent to bring more money in and the reply was a definate no as this would be a slippery slope or in other words you have to be a fully qualified electrician or nothing ie no stage 1 or 2 or 3. My view on this and what I have read is the big PAT testing companies will have to have a electrician on board and they can do this but the stand alone PAT tester doing domestic rental properties will be squeezed out of the market the same way the electrician was sqeezed out of PAT testing years ago. I think it will take years but it looks like they will change the intervals of testing and include fixed appliances wired via FCUs

 

[Guitarist]

Glad to hear it mate. Personally, I think it's a travesty that someone with absolutely NO experience, training or qualifications can do a 3 day course to "test" electrical equipment and repair it if it's faulty.
There seem to be lots of "big" firms employing these guys on minimum wage to put stickers on appliances at the moment.

 

[oldtimer]

Glad to hear it mate. Personally, I think it's a travesty that someone with absolutely NO experience, training or qualifications can do a 3 day course to "test" electrical equipment and repair it if it's faulty.
There seem to be lots of "big" firms employing these guys on minimum wage to put stickers on appliances at the moment.

Well I dont think it is the guys fault but more the regulators and companies who have carved it up to in my view such an extent that their actions would not stand up in court but the problem is it would cost a lot of money to take them to court and expose the sticker companies and regulators and they now know they cannot get away with saying a washing machine with a plug top on it can be tested but the same machine wired into a FCU does not. What could happen is to push PAT testers to get their electrical qualifications. Interesting times