Can I stir the pot?
PAT testing
Back in the dim days of pre history I set up the PAT testing regime for the Works Department at this Trust, initially the guys doing the tests found a lot of problems with Domestic equipment - mostly leads and plugs, over half of the equipment in the Catering Department failed, they threw out most of the extension leads and had relatively few faults with other PAT tested equipment. They did not cover Medical Equipment, and fixed installations aren’t PAT equipment and are subject to another set of requirements.
In subsequent years the number of faults found were a fraction of the first years.
60601 or 62353 testing
On too many occasions to mention I have failed equipment during a visual inspection (broken cases, drop damage, mains leads and patient leads that have been run over or stretched etc).
In the good old days I saw my fair share of moulded leads with poor earth continuity and the odd piece of Medical Equipment with a doggy earth.
I can remember 2 units that failed electrical isolation tests, both due to impact damage (one in a reps. Boot, and I already knew from the visual inspection to expect problems).
I have also had some failures of equipment that was not “Hospital Grade”, and was not manufactured to pass 60601 or 62353 tests.
But apart from the non Hospital Grade equipment I can not remember any failures in 20 plus years of using medical standard electrical testers that would not have been picked up with a PAT tester.
Am I alone in this? Or is it evidence of a selective memory?
Lee
