ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT TESTING/PORTABLE APPLIANCE TESTING

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No - and quietly walk away from anyone who tells you it is...

What is required by law is that equipment and appliances used by electrically unskilled people at work (so basically everything in the workplace that is electrical and could reasonably be used by staff) must conform to the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 (be safe for continued use in that environment). This includes break rooms and items of equipment provided for staff to use at home. It also applies to equipment provided to tenants in rented accommodation (not their own possessions) and items sold/leased or otherwise provided to the general public by an organisation.

The person responsible for ensuring this is known as the Duty Holder (this will be the landlord in rental situations). As above, before appointing someone to undertake inspection and testing on their behalf, the Duty Holder is legally required to perform due diligence. 

What EET/PAT testing allows, when completed correctly, is a record of the Duty Holder having fulfilled their requirement under the EAWR and other Health & Safety law, but nowhere will you find written any suggestion that it is the only allowable way of doing this. 

Again, walk away from anyone that tells you that EET/PAT testing must be done every year...

The answer to this question can only be answered by your own risk assessment. As the Duty Holder you must decide how often you are going to require certain pieces of equipment be subject to inspection and/or testing. It is perfectly acceptable for some items to be formally tested once every 5 years - similarly, 1 year would be far too long for other pieces of equipment. 

Of course whoever you book to perform this task will assist you in deciding this period, and we have a risk matrix to help you decide, but be dubious of anyone that doesn't allow you to make that decision yourself - it simply isn't up to us!

Anywhere where the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 applies - so, anywhere that could be considered a workplace for someone, even if it isn't for you.

Common examples include:

• Student accommodation
• Live music venues
• Wedding venues
• Schools
• Care homes/nursing homes
• Cleaners & tradespeople who have their own electrical equipment

The list could be endless - effectively, if you wish to take an electrical appliance somewhere outside of your home environment, the chances are that someone's insurance (if not your own) will require compliance with EAWR and likely will specify EET/PAT testing. 

Unfortunately, it is common in the above scenarios to find that insurers specifically require EET/PAT testing to be completed annually on all equipment/appliances. It isn't a legal requirement, sure, but who is prepared to invalidate insurance to make a point?!

It can be reasonably assumed that a new piece of electrical equipment from a reputable retailer/brand will have been subject to some form of quality control. Do exercise caution with imported equipment and items purchased online though. It is unusual for us to test  new equipment (under 1 year old), unless there are concerns about it, or the risk assessment has identified a need to. 

With the above in mind, new items shall be considered in exactly the same way as any other item that has just been tested (and passed) - it is up to the Duty Holder to decide, based on their risk assessment, when the first and subsequent tests should take place. 

Ultimately that will be down to the owner of the equipment, but until such time as it is repaired, it should not return to service. The item will be labelled as having failed testing and being unsafe for continued use. 

For simple faults (fuse/plug/connection issues), we may be able to fix and pass the equipment there and then. For more complex faults, professional repair or disposal will be recommended.

We do not undertake complex appliance repair but can put you in touch with a reputable company who do, if required.

Yes - loads!

Basically they fall into one of two categories:

• Extra-low voltage equipment (<51v AC or <121v DC) - testing is only required on any part that connects to the mains, such as chargers and transformers. Battery operated appliances are therefore exempt (but the mains bits of any chargers are not). 
• Class II appliances with no exposed metal parts - class II means that they do not have an earth connection and that live parts are 'double insulated'. These are commonplace and only require visual inspection - there is no electrical testing that can be applied to them (testing is only possible if they do have exposed metal parts). 

This is commonly misunderstood by those that do not have formal qualifications and is a common area in which customers are overcharged, by having items tested that are exempt. 

This depends on the 'Class' of equipment being tested - most appliances are either Class I (earthed) or Class II (non-earthed). Earthed appliances require extra testing to ensure that the earth connection is stable.

Standard tests - conducted on all relevant equipment:

• Visual inspection
• Continuity of earth connections (Class I only)
• Resistance of the cable insulation
• Functional testing (does it work as intended?) - where practical 
• Load testing (does it use the amount of power expected?) - where practical 

Additional testing - generally only conducted if there are concerns:

• Earth leakage testing (a more in-depth test of insulation resistance)
• Touch voltage testing (would the appliance give you an electric shock if you touched it whilst on?)

You will get an electronic EET/PAT certificate emailed to you within 48 hours of completion of testing. This details all equipment tested, the results and when they are next due for inspection.

I use the Kewtech SMARTPAT Tester - this is a top of the range tester that is calibrated annually. 

Latest calibration certificate: 19th March 2023

In addition to my electrician qualifications, I hold the City & Guilds 2377-77 Level 3 Award in the In-Service Inspection & Testing of Electrical Equipment.

This is considered to be the industry standard PAT testing qualification.

Unfortunately, I do not price match. There are too many 'cowboy' outfits out there that will always be able to undercut me on price and I have no intention on joining the race to the bottom! 

I will, however, discount my price for large bookings (over 100 items) - please do contact me for a quote if this applies to you. Additionally, there is no minimum charge if you bring the items to one of our locations as opposed to me coming to you - check my current pricing for more information. 

Subject to availability, I am happy to undertake testing at a reduced rate for non-profit organisations and community groups. Again, please contact me if this is of interest to you. 

This can often be difficult to estimate as it depends hugely on the types of equipment being tested. A washing machine, for example, may take 15 minutes, whereas a laptop charger may only take 1 minute!

I typically work on an average of 20 items per hour when estimating jobs, but of course if you only have small, portable items that are easy to test then this may be much quicker (and vice versa of course). 

PATTA are the Portable Appliance Testing Trade Association and are an organisation that looks to raise standards within the PAT/EET industry.

I decided to join them as I too was staggered at the poor quality of work seen in the industry and happily support them in their bid to raise standards.