An important practical application of the EPSRC shaking table is seismic qualification testing of electro-mechanical plant. This usually involves shaking the equipment with simulated earthquakes to prove its safe operation during and after a seismic event. Each test earthquake lasts about ten seconds and the sequence of shaking is carefully designed to give a realistic test of the equipment under different levels of shaking, including cumulative damage effects. In most cases the final test is at an intensity of shaking 1.4 times greater than the full design earthquake. This is to prove that the equipment is not on the verge of failure at the design earthquake level. After each shake, each item is carefully inspected and functional tests are carried out.