PSAV® Presentation Services is pleased to announce a new service available to its hotel partners in the UK and Germany that will enable them to more easily comply with Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) and BGV A3 Testing while also saving considerable money and ensuring a competitive market advantage. The regulation, which is limited to the UK and Germany, requires that all buildings open to the public test all power outlets and power equipment on a bi-annual or annual basis, depending on the device.
"PAT testing, which is applicable only to the UK, and its German counterpart BGV A3, is an important component of each country’s health and safety policy," said Mark Gascoine, PSAV’s head of rigging and power services in Europe. "It involves the testing of cables, sockets, plugs, leads and any other power carrying interconnects, along with the appliances themselves, in order to establish that a continuous ground is maintained when a charge is given. Everything from rented accommodations to office buildings, hotels to convention centres, is required by law to test its equipment."
"Oftentimes meeting planners bring power items with them for conferences without prior testing to ensure that they are in working order and up to specification. Event facilities also may not be power compliant," he added. "Today, PSAV is offering this service to our hotel and convention centre partners as a direct and effective link to becoming safe and meeting standards quickly without any inconvenience."
PSAV is a global supplier of audiovisual services and event technologies to decision makers responsible for organising meetings, conferences and events worldwide. The company’s sales management teams and international project managers span the globe – from Europe, the Middle East and Africa, to Asia, South America and Australia – delivering the best in video and projection, lighting, set design and construction, sound, staging, event IT support, rigging, high-definition event videoconferencing and now, power testing.
PSAV’s PAT/BGV A3 service enables facilities to:
- Decrease outsourcing costs by 5%
- Ensure on-time compliance
- Book inspection and testing at their convenience
- Receive detailed data on all testing and appliances
- Benefit from PSAV repair or replacement service
- Ensure items are never out of service for long
"While independent contractors are effective at providing outsourced PAT for small businesses and organisations, large facilities need to be more prudent," Gascoine said. "Testing done by an independent company can get expensive, typically about one euro per tested item: a plug, a socket, a power cable, and an appliance or machine. When you consider the vast number of items in a hotel or conference centre, and factor in the possibility of each item needing to be tested every six months, it can get very costly."
Quick turn-around also is an issue. If speedy testing and certification is needed – not to mention the possibility of repair – the facility may be in a bind. PSAV has an arsenal of rigging division staff, freelance electricians and AV engineers on hand who are trained to regional standards to complete the work. The only stipulation for PSAV to perform the PAT/BGV A3 service is that the facility has no fewer than 1,000 items to be tested (most venues range from 4,000 to 10,000 items).
"PSAV provides all the required management and paper trail on behalf of the venue," Gascoine said. "We will ensure that testing is completed on time, guaranteeing that the hotel or conference centre is ahead of health and safety laws. PSAV also provides direct cable and fuse replacements without holding up the process, ensuring the facility is at maximum efficiency all of the time. Lastly, and by no means least, we will save the venue up to 5% on their current costs where possible."
For the last 40 years, PSAV has built a solid reputation for supplying the best in event technology and up-to-the-minute resources, supporting client meetings, corporate conferences and events across the global. With 35 branch offices and 600 hotel locations in the US, plus another 200 venue locations around the globe in ten countries, PSAV is BIG in meetings.
For more information please contact PSAV.