Oxfordshire City Council commissions ODS (Oxford Direct Services) to maintain council properties including 7000 residential homes, as well as parks and streets across the county. To fulfil such an important, varied, and large-scale contract, ODS employ a team of over 200 builders, plumbers, electricians, and other skilled tradesmen to conduct maintenance and repair work. Staff use company equipment, therefore, to ensure their safety ODS has implemented a preventive maintenance program. As part of this program, Seaward equipment, such as the Apollo 600+ with PATGuard 3 Software, is used to check the electrical safety of company equipment including drills, portable lighting, vacuum cleaners, heaters, compressors, and batteries.  

Quick Links

The Problem

ODS’ Plant Management Department, located at Horspath Road Depot in Oxford, is responsible for verifying the safety of all electrical tools and equipment used by the company. Some 9000 items are regularly inspected and tested by plant room assistant and appliance tester Phillip Collender. His eclectic and extensive testing regime requires a solution that links test schedules with appliance identification systems and maintains comprehensive test records for each appliance.

The Solution

To maintain their preventative maintenance program and solve issues pertaining to asset management, appliance testing and reporting, ODS has invested in Seaward Apollo 600+ PAT Testers with PATGuard 3 Testing Software.

Compliance with IET’s 5th Edition Code of Practice guarantees that the Seaward Apollo 600+ PAT Tester can deliver all the checks required to verify the safety of ODS’ electrical items; it supports extension lead, power cord, and RCD tests, as well as point-to-point testing of fixed appliances. Relevant test sequences are automatically programmed by scanning the appliance’s barcode. Automatic asset recognition and test programming improve efficiency and meet ODS’ criteria for linked test schedules and appliance identification.

Furthermore, the Apollo 600+ can be used to produce test certificates and reports offering proof of compliance with in-house safety management protocols. Additionally, its extensive memory with the capacity to store thousands of test records offers a method of maintaining comprehensive item documentation, especially as this data can be uploaded to ODS’ database via a PC connection.

Seaward’s Apollo 600+ PAT Tester fulfilled all of ODS’ requirements and offered the additional advantage of being lightweight, compact, and battery-operated. This practical design means it can be easily transported and is suitable for use on a variety of worksites.

Having provided an effective solution to maintaining the electrical safety of ODS’ power tools and equipment, Phillip Collender is now using the Seaward Apollo 600+ PAT Tester as part of a wider asset management program. Inspections and checks performed on hundreds of ladders are also being recorded on the Apollo 600+ and Collender anticipates using the PAT tester for other health and safety checks such as inspecting fire extinguishers and first aid equipment.

Testimonials

Phillip Collender, an appliance tester and plant room assistant for ODS (Oxford Direct Services), praises Seaward’s products and highlights their importance when comes to maintaining health and safety:

“Safety is always of paramount importance. Across our organisation, we use an array of electrical equipment and as part of our health and safety and equipment maintenance commitment, portable appliance testing is undertaken regularly and systematically. The testers are simple-to-use, which with such a large workload, makes the integration of testing with asset identification a lot quicker and easier to complete. The ability to maintain formal test records, which is essential in enabling us to work efficiently and effectively, is also much improved. We also benefit from good product support from Seaward, who are responsive to our needs, ensuring that any technical queries and issues we might have are resolved quickly.”

Further Information

For more information regarding Seaward’s PAT Testers, including the Apollo 600+, please visit our PAT Tester and PAT Tester Kits categories. Alternatively, please contact our Sales team on 01642 931 329 or via our online form.

For more Seaward Apollo 600+ case studies, please see our blogs on the London Underground and TECC.

Footnote

The information for this blog was gathered from the following source: