Top Tips on Starting Your Own Testing and Tagging Service
If you're thinking of starting your own business and find electronics interesting, you might want to consider a test-and-tag business. Every business must have all items of electrical equipment held on the premises tested and tagged for safety reasons and to comply with the law. These types of businesses include schools, hospitals, hotels and catering establishments as well as industrial premises and construction sites. This means that there's clearly plenty of work out there for an aspiring test-and-tag business owner. So where do you start?
Read on for some helpful information.
Best practice
Before you can run your own test-and-tag business, you must have a good understanding of industry best practices. To do this, you'll need to attend training courses and get proper advice from qualified operatives already working within the industry.
Many test-and-tag firms offer training courses run by experienced, qualified staff who also work in the field, and it's a really good idea to take advantage of one of these if you can find one.
Support networks
As a newbie to the business, you'll need to build up a good support network of industry contacts, including local test-and-tag firms and industry associations, such as NESTA, the National Electric Safety Testing Association. This will help you to stay up to date with industry developments.
You'll also need to get yourself a good accountant and insurance broker to make sure that you stay on the right side of the law in these areas.
The right equipment
The equipment that you use to carry out test-and-tag work is crucial to your success. There are different types of PAT testing kit available, and what you buy will influence the kind of service you can offer. Before you make a purchase, consider the services you are hoping to offer and buy accordingly.
Data reporting
Many clients will expect you to provide them with detailed test results that go beyond a basic manual and tag logbook. This means that you will need to invest in the correct tester and software that will allow you to streamline your reporting process.
If you're thinking of starting your own test-and-tag business, you might want to consider the advice given above. A good source of information and training could be other local tag-and-test businesses. Many firms offer training courses as part of their service menu, and there's no better place to learn the ropes than with a successful firm in the field that you aspire to work in.
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