Is PAT Testing Legally Required?

Separate equipment groups with different patterns of use. A cleaner's machine repeatedly moved through a building deserves a different assessment from a desktop device whose cable remains protected behind a desk. Previous damage and faults help identify where attention is needed.

Use this information to agree user checks, formal inspections and electrical testing where appropriate. HSE treats visual examination as an essential part of the process: testing alone does not reveal every kind of safety defect.

Appoint someone to maintain the equipment list and arrange the programme. Tell users how to report damage and where to put equipment taken out of service. Identify who decides whether an item is repaired, replaced or returned to use.

For shared workplaces, agree how landlord, employer, tenant and contractor equipment is handled. An item brought in by another organisation should not disappear between two maintenance lists. Similarly, equipment sent away for repair needs a clear route back into the register.

These everyday arrangements make the programme workable between scheduled visits. They also stop a failed appliance being put back into use simply because somebody needs it.

Useful records connect an identifiable item to its inspection or test result and the action taken. Include faults, repairs, replacements and items that were unavailable. An unexplained label or a total number of items tested gives the manager little help when a specific appliance needs tracing.

Review the programme against what the records show. Repeated cable damage in one team calls for attention to handling, storage or equipment suitability as well as the checking arrangements. A missing appliance needs locating or its disposal recording; it should not quietly count as completed.

When comparing quotations, agree the equipment count, access, working hours, record format and handling of failed items. Define whether repairs and retesting are included or separately authorised.

No. The checking arrangements depend on the item, its use and environment. HSE explicitly rejects the idea that all portable electrical equipment must be tested annually. Record the basis of your programme and review it when use or condition changes.

An EICR concerns the fixed electrical installation within its stated scope. Keep the appliance programme separate and connect both sets of records where a fault involves the appliance and its supply.

Keep it out of use and make its status clear. Arrange assessment, repair or replacement through the responsible person. Record the outcome so the equipment list shows what happened to the item, rather than retaining an unresolved failure indefinitely.

Read fixed wire testing explained. Explore portable appliance testing, asset maintenance, minor works and support for offices and commercial workplaces.

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