PowerPlug helps IMServ with in-house PAT testing

Field managers at IMServ are themselves undertaking the portable electrical appliance testing (PAT) and inspection programme for over 120 meter readers in the north-west of England.

Field managers at IMServ, the energy data management company, are themselves undertaking the portable electrical appliance testing (PAT) and inspection programme for over 120 meter readers in the north-west of England.

As the UK's largest and most experienced interval data collector, IMServ is the most established national service provider in the commercial and industrial sector, remotely collecting over 5million data items every day.

In 2004 IMServ collected over 100billionkWh of electricity consumption, which is 30 per cent of the annual national demand, with an energy value of over £3billion.

The company, which is part of the Invensys Group, employs meter readers throughout the UK who work from a home base and use electrical data loggers as part of their job.

It fell to electrical appliance inspection and test specialist PowerPlug UK to devise a PAT programme for the north-west division of IMServ which ensured that safety standards were maintained without disruption to normal meter reading schedules.

The answer was to train IMServ managers to carry out inspection and test operations while undertaking their normal visits to members of staff.

Three managers and their assistants were issued with the necessary equipment, namely an entry-level IntroPat suitable for testing in low-risk environments.

They were then trained in its use and the safe and effective operation of a PAT programme for the electrical equipment used by their teams of meter readers.

The training course ran over two days and equipped the field managers with the necessary knowledge and ability to test portable electrical equipment to standards set by the Institute of Electrical Engineers (IEE) and to meet the requirements of the Electricity at Work Regulation 1989.

Starting with the principles of electricity and the history of its use, the course content included safety regulations, risk assessment and use of test equipment.

Attendees were formally assessed and all reached a sufficient high standard of understanding and ability to be awarded the PowerPlug UK Certificate of Competence.

The management team now handles all inspection and testing of existing and new equipment using the PowerPlug UK schedules of frequency for safe testing.

The district manager at IMServ with responsibility for health and safety in the north-west, Howard Robinson, said: "This solution has proved extremely effective.

"As managers, we regularly visit our staff and we can now schedule the PAT programme to coincide with these visits so that the day-to-day schedules are not disrupted.

"It has been interesting to see how all our staff have now become much more aware of the importance of electrical safety.

"Because testing takes place at the homes of staff, they see when appliances are fail and it is explained to them why.

"They then realise how important it is that these regular tests and checks are carried out".

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