Questions Answered by our Managing Director who has been in the industry since 1998 as a test engineer, a supervisor for a testing company and now business owner. We’ve got a cheaper quote will you match it? How can we be sure every appliance has been tested? Do you test leads seperately? Is the testing Disruptive? What Reports do we get? You're office in Essex, Are you national? We’ve got a cheaper quote will you match it? We will match any quote we feel is genuine. There are two types of PAT companies trading, the one's who do the job correctly, and those who stick green stickers on everything and carry out the tests at questionable speeds. We do not try to compete with the later. See below. How can we be sure every appliance has been tested? It’s a very true and undeniable fact that myself, all our engineers and any other engineer who has worked in the industry for a little while will know many of the results of the tests we carry out before the test is carried out. This a fact and cannot be denied. I'm not suggesting an engineer would just stick a green sticker on an appliance and enter a result into the machine am I? Well it would make sense of the prices some companies can charge. Big claims but concider that the majority (if not all) of PAT engineers are paid per test and would earn considerably more money if they managed 50 tests an hour rather than 20. Plus as we are the only testing company who actively ensure the quality of our engineers theres very little chance of the engineer ever being found out. Why go through the hassle of climbing under the desk through all those shoes, handbags and sweaty gym wear or carefully move pictures and ornaments and put them back too if they could get away without doing so. I'm sure you've heard many companies state that their engineers are honest and reliable, as i am certain ours are too, the difference however is that Bremins constantly monitor the engineers work to ensure this is so. Its is then obvious every company could charge very low prices per test if strict quality procedures, which are absolutely necessary, are not set up and controlled to insure the work is being carried out correctly. Don't take our  word for it decide for youself, this is a standard test in an office environment Ask user to shut down PC Remove plug from socket Remove plug top (if not moulded) and check terminals are tight, terminated correctly and fuse has correct safety standards Remove fuse for moulded plugs and check safety standards Check entire length of cable to ensure integrity, this often means crawling under desks through everything thats down there Visualy inspect appliance Plug appliance into tester and run tests (tests take 20-30 seconds) Replace everything and power up to ensure all is working Enter detail of description etc into software Apply labels to equipment and remove old labels The solution is simple and this how Bremins tackles the problem. Open our eyes that this is a potential problem and cause for concern. Engineers paid on an hourly basis. Software to record time of each test to ensure engineer is not over efficient 10% of each engineers work is verified by a dedicated quality control manager. this is unique to Bremins Two strikes and your out policy. Our quality measures have attracted companies such as the BBC, Walkers, Mellon and many more of the like who require Bremins to fall within their own quality control procedures. Do you test leads separately? As a procedure yes we do, not to make extra money as some would have you believe but simply because we believe we need to, however the final decision is yours. I’ll explain. Firstly the code of practice for inspection and testing states that leads should be tested and labelled separately. The code of practice as we know is not a legal document but can be used in a court of law against the defendant if a case was brought to trial. It is your opinion or understanding of the code of practice which is important, as how you interpret the information is key to your decision. Secondly, the leads get different test to the equipment this necessitates them being unplugged from the appliance. For example a test for an IEC lead would be Visual, Earth Bond at 25Amps, Insulation tests and finally a polarity test. The test for a piece of IT equipment would be Visual, Earth Continuity test at 100mA (soft test so as not to damage equipment), and Earth Leakage test (Insulation test to harsh for IT). The tests are quite different and you would not be able to enter results for both lead and appliance under one item. Additionally the polarity test on the lead, which is an important test, requires both ends of the lead to be plugged into the tester so needs to be detached from the appliance, it would not be possible to carry out this test as part of the appliance. The choice however is yours and we would be happy to test the lead as part of the appliance with no additional cost. The same tests as the appliance will be performed on the lead however this in many cases will only be a soft test designed specifically for IT equipment. Is the testing disruptive? Not really, Each PC in the case of an office environment would need to be shut down for 10 to 15 minutes in turn for the testing to be carried out, generally the operator pops of for a cup of tea while the work is being done. Server rooms etc would need to be shut down to be tested, but the frequency of testing can be lengthened as they are deemed low risk environments. If you’d prefer we could carry out the testing outside work hours (after 5pm Mon-Fri or all day Saturday) and you could even qualify for a discount. The reason being that our engineers are much more productive without other people around and it is generally a preferred method by all involved. What Reports do we get? There are 4 main reports: 1) An asset listing of all equipment including serial numbers. 2) Failure report detailing equipment that did not pass the test and why. 3) PAT log book detailing all the equipment tested, where it is and the test results. 4) Missing Assets, If you are a repeat customer we will detail equipment not found from the last testing carried out. We would then return to re-test if you are aware where the equipment is or mark it as disposed equipment on our database. Reports are sent in Log Book, CD and Microsoft Excel format within 5 days from the completion of testing. We keep copies of reports on our system for 10 years and copies can be obtained free of charge at any time within that period. You’re office is in Essex are you National? Yes, Bremins carry out works across the country and even have contracts in Paris, Copenhagen, and Germany. We have a central office based in Essex and an office in Cannock, Birmingham. Our engineers are located across the country and are not required to come into the offices as modern technology allows all our engineers to be totally mobile. The system Bremins incorporate works on a digital pen and paper, as the engineer writes the information in their logs the information is recorded by the pen and sent direct to head office via gprs. This allows very quick processing of results and removes the need for engineers to download at our office. If you have any further question about Bremins or PAT testers in general feel free to email or call me and I will be happy to discuss any aspect of our industry.