From wedding dress sales to testing electrical equipment: in conversation with a BSI Awards winner

Every year, the BSI Standards Users Awards celebrate people who have made exemplary use of standards.

PAT-iT Ltd, an East Midlands-based company specialising in portable appliance testing and inspection (PAT), won their award for safety.

Founder Lee Turtle told us about how standards help him to improve safety, how he went from selling wedding dresses to testing appliances, and why you should resist plugging in an electric heater into an extension cable.

How did you get into electrical engineering?

Electronics was always an interest, but I left school with no qualifications. But after an engineering apprenticeship, I stayed on for fourteen years as a precision engineer at a local firm as a programmer, setter and operator.After a few similar roles and progressing in my career, I found resistance to new ways of working and got frustrated – eventually I left the engineering industry to do something else.

It really was something else!

For six years, I worked as a wedding dress sales agent. It took me to Hong Kong several times a year and all around the UK & Ireland too. Living out of a suitcase took its toll, so I came back to the engineering industry as a sales executive for an engineering firm. Part of my role included compliance, safety and standards.

How did you come to set up your company?

Towards the end of my last role, I was arranging PAT testing. That reminded me of my passion for electronics. After an electronics and NEBOSH course at the local college, everything progressed from there.

I’m committed to doing things properly. Some large PAT testing companies bid for work at a low price then outsource it to contractors, who are under pressure to work fast. With PAT-iT, I decided to employ, educate and train people so we complete work to a high standard, rather than just completing jobs with an eye on the bottom line.

How do you use standards in your work?

Until recently, the main guidance for our work was the IET Code of Practice. Around 18 months ago, BS EN 50699 Recurrent Tests of Electrical Equipment came out, which gives really good guidance on what an engineer should do when testing.

Before BS EN 50699 came out, just some of the standards that applied to our PAT testing work were fragments of BS 7671, BS 7909, BS EN IEC 60335, and ones that applied to particular products, for example BS 1363 & BS 1362 which covers plugs. BS EN 50699 is really useful, I’d like to see it become a code of practice like BS 5266 is for emergency lighting.

Using standards, the business has broadened from PAT testing into other areas such as emergency lighting and other electrical maintenance and testing and more recently firefighting equipment maintenance.

Standards give us the knowledge, and the equipment we use has editable programmes within the same device to record the testing of fire extinguishers, emergency lights and so on. All it’s taken to expand the business is using standards, the equipment we already had, and some training.

How do you use your BSI membership?

The knowledge I have gained from standards has enabled me to expand my business without significant investment. I use a lot of different standards. My £250 membership fee has easily paid for itself through the discount I get on buying standards. Membership provides a very handy reference tool for good practice, and helps to ensure that any advice I give is in accordance with British Standards.

I heard about the BSI standards awards through the membership emails, and it felt like a great achievement for a small business like ours to receive an award. The awards ceremony was a lovely day out, I met a lot of interesting and influential people. Now I enjoy telling people PAT-iT is the only PAT testing company with a BSI award for safety - that’s pretty special!

How do you see your business developing in future?

The PAT testing side is strong, but other work is growing too. I wanted to expand beyond just PAT testing to offering other services and expanding what we do. We recently did testing and inspection of emergency lighting in a village hall, an old, converted WWI mess hut. The system was inadequate, and we won the contract to design a new system and advise on a maintenance regime in accordance with BS 5266 and BS 5499.

We currently operate from sites in Lincoln and Nottingham, and recently acquired a business in Milton Keynes (covering Northamptonshire & Bedfordshire and beyond) called FTS Ltd. A new employee is starting in January to work on fire safety and maintenance. Ultimately, I’d like to be able to offer a full compliance package including fire safety, emergency lighting, and PAT testing. That’s this year’s goal!

Finally, what’s the biggest safety fail you’ve seen?

I’ve seen some terrible things! One that has stuck with me was a petrol station shop where an extension lead was used to power two tills. The cable was damaged and there was exposed copper. Basically, a 230V live wire exposed to the elements, posing an electrical risk as well as a spark risk - right next to tankers full of petrol. Apparently, the cleaner used to mop over it every day, I shudder to think what might have happened!

If you have any other questions about how you can use standards to help grow your business, BSI members can get in touch with the Knowledge Centre’s information experts.