WHAT IS PAT TESTING?

Pat testing is a cost effective way to protect your staff and guests from electrical discharges due to faulty equipment.

PAT Testing or In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment to give it it's real name is a series of visual observations and machine based tests designed to confirm the appliances suitability to remain in service in accordance with legal requirements.

LEGAL REQUIREMENTS

IS IT REQUIRED BY LAW ?

There is currently no strict legal requirement to be PAT tested, However the government has put regulations into place to ensure the proper maintenance of electrical appliances, and the most effective way to comply with these regulations is through PAT Testing.

The Health and Safety Executive along with insurance companies will expect you to be able to prove that you are compliant with certain regulations,

• The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
• The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989
• The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998
• The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999

A detailed PAT Test report and certificate gives you that proof of compliance.

Non-Compliance with these regulations can result in fines upto £5,000 and or Six months imprisonment. Fines have been seen to go as high as £20,000, cases heard in crown court  have carried sentences of more than twoyears imprisonment in addition to unlimited financial penalties.    

Claims that PAT testing is required by law and that you are breaking the law not having it done are simply not true, the law does however require that employers including self-employed ensure that all electrical equipment used by staff and guests be maintained to a fit for use standard.

This means PAT testing is a critical part of your Health and Safety Policy.

What sort of things are tested?

Easy answer and the one I give more often than any other, if it has a plug to connect it to an electrical circuit whether the appliance is fixed to a wall or not it should be tested

WHAT DO I GET ?

All tested appliances will be tagged to show they have been tested, tags have our name and contact number, engineers name, unique id number along with month & year tested, our label colour changes on a three year rotation, this helps our engineer see which items have been missed or don't require testing at that time.

Full PDF copy of your test report, listing all tested appliances against there id number and location.

PDF copy of your certficate of testing which can be printed and displayed if required.

PDF format documents are sent to an email address selected by your site contact.

If you wish to know more please contact us