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PAT Testing is not a complicated process – but it does need to be done correctly. Every year in the UK, people have accidents involving portable electrical items – sometimes they are injured or even killed.

Having your electrical items checked on a regular basis is the best way to reduce the risk of accidents occurring – if items are found to have faults and are removed from use, then the risk of an accident is massively reduced.

Do We Really Need to Get This Done?

We could go on and on about the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, or even BS EN 50699 or BS EN 50678 – but actually you might be surprised to learn that portable appliance testing is NOT a legal requirement. We think you’d probably prefer some common-sense practical advice. Even though the law doesn’t specify PAT Testing, most businesses will find that they need to get it done – perhaps as a condition of their insurance company, or maybe to satisfy the requirements of another organisation.

Examples:

• A Band or DJ would need to have up-to-date PAT Testing in place (as well as other things like public liability insurance) because the venues that they work in will require it;
• A Residential Care Home may need PAT Testing in place because the CQC (Care Quality Commission) may ask for evidence of compliance during an inspection;
• Schools which are part of the LEA may have to follow rules set by the Local Authority, and if they become Academies they may need PAT Testing in place to satisfy the insurance company or provide evidence of good practice during an Ofsted inspection;
• A landlord will need to ensure electrical items in the rental property are safe and be able to demonstrate that they’ve had PAT Testing carried out in order to comply with local authority regulations or as a membership of a landlord association.
•  Contractors working in construction often require PAT Test ‘tickets’ on their electrical items before they will be allowed onto site.

Of course these are just a few examples, but we find that most businesses or organisations will need to carry out PAT Testing at some point. In an ideal world the PAT Testing would be determined by carrying out a Risk Assessment but in most cases, businesses and organisations will need to get it done on a regular basis to satisfy the requirements of someone else. The key point is to work out what needs to be done and why, and then come up with a sensible plan that meets all of the requirements, rather than just simply testing everything every year because you think that you ‘have’ to.

The law does make business owners and managers responsible for making sure the electrical equipment is SAFE – and it’s difficult to imagine how this could be achieved without some sort of system for checking the equipment on a regular basis. Probably the one issue that drives the PAT Testing industry more than any is insurance – if you run any kind of business it’s almost a certainty that the insurance underwriters will expect to see evidence of Portable Appliance Testing before considering any claim relating to an electrical accident or a fire.

What Makes PAT Testing Expert Different?

The PAT Testing industry has suffered a lot of reputational damage over the last few years – it’s been a bit of a ‘race to the bottom’ with prices, and of course, quality has suffered as well. The fact is that, in most workplaces, the vast majority of appliances will be OK – and so if companies are desperate to offer the lowest prices per item, (with their engineers paid on a ‘piece rate’) it stands to reason that they’re going to want to get through as many items as they can, as quickly as possible. Most companies in this industry charge by the item, but they pay their engineers by the item too!  Given the fact that the item in your hand is 99% likely to be fine, then the temptation to put a green label on it and move on to the next one is very high! If you’re being paid 20p per item by your employer, then it’s easy to understand how operators are tempted NOT to carry out the checks properly, and move on to the next item.

Do You Want Your Items Tested Quickly, or Correctly?

PAT Testing Expert was founded on the principles of making sure that the task is done correctly. Unusually in this industry, we now pay our engineers on an hourly basis, rather than ‘per item’ which means that they are incentivised to carry out the job correctly, rather than quickly. Of course, our engineers will work with you to make sure the job is completed efficiently and with the minimum of disruption, but we don’t incentivise our guys to take short cuts – we incentivise them to do the job well.

Expert Advice and Information

We’ve been involved in the business of Portable Appliance Testing for many years – in fact, our Director, Tim James, has been working in the field of PAT Testing for more than 30 years! He’s Standards Director of PATTA (The Trade Association for PAT Testing companies in the UK) and he’s also on the IET Committee that updated the Code of Practice for In-Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment in 2020. Tim runs training courses in PAT Testing and is widely acknowledged as being on the UK’s leading experts in the field. If you entrust your Portable Appliance Testing to PAT Testing Expert, you can be sure of the best advice and information.

Our service is base around providing you with the knowledge and advice you need in order to make a sensible decision about what to do – in some cases annual testing may be the best approach, or you may have no choice, but in other cases a risk based approach could end up saving you a lot of money each year, whilst also giving you a better level of safety in your organisation.

Get in Touch

Phone Us on 01482 738826 or click here to send us a message!