Is PAT Testing a Legal requirement?
In a word ‘No’. However, an employer has a responsibility under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 to ensure ALL electrically powered equipment is properly maintained. How do you know whether an appliance needs maintenance? By inspecting and electrically testing an appliance it is possible to establish whether the appliance is safe or needs remedial work. This is the basis of Portable Appliance Testing (PAT Testing).

So back to the original question; No, you don’t need to PAT Test, but PAT Testing is the most efficient way of establishing whether your appliances are safe and compliant.

Why do PAT Testing prices vary so much?
As with most industries there will always be an amount of competition between different companies. The last 4 years has seen a significant increase in the number of PAT Testing companies and a reduction in the amount charged per test. Some companies would charge over £5.00 per test, whereas current prices are closer to £1.00 per test. Considering the amount of time an Engineer should spend on an appliance, £1.00 per test is a fair price. However, we have recently seen prices as low as 35p per test. Let’s analyse this. If the Engineer managed to inspect and test 200 appliances in a day, he would earn just £70. Would he be happy with that? Probably not. With prices so low, there is a temptation amongst some Engineers to ‘cut corners’ to enable them to earn a reasonable wage.

Although you may be tempted to go for the cheapest price, remember, you often get what you pay for.

PAT companies can often offer lower prices due to simple economy of scale, but if you pay them 80p per test, 50p will go to the Engineer (as many Engineers are self-employed and paid per test), leaving just 30p for the company to pay their overheads and hopefully make a profit. The only way they can make this work is for the Engineer to do more tests per day. This ensures the Engineer is making a reasonable amount of money per day, and the PAT company can invoice for work done ASAP (reducing the impact on their cash-flow). If they are rushing to get the job done, are they doing the job right?

How is your 80p per test broken down?

- Self-employed PAT Tester (Sole Trader) - the 80p goes straight to the Engineer, but he has to pay his own tax, NI, fuel, vehicle costs, advertising, equipment costs, administration costs etc. What about Quality Assurance? No QA Audits are carried out and any complaints go straight to the Engineer.

- Employed Engineer - the 80p goes to the company. Out of that, the Engineer gets a salary (approximately equivalent to 30p per test) and a bonus if a target amount of tests is exceeded within the week (normally over 1,000 tests). The Engineer will normally get a van and a fuel card, and all of his equipment is provided and maintained. Quality Assurance - Internal QA Audits are carried out and complaints go to the company who should investigate the issue with the Engineer.

- Self-employed PAT Tester (under the control of a larger company) - the 80p goes to the company. Approximately 50p goes to the Engineer, but he has to pay his own tax, NI, fuel, vehicle costs and equipment rental. Quality Assurance - Some internal QA Audits may be carried out and complaints go to the company who should investigate the issue with the Engineer.

As you can see, the method of ‘employment’ of the Engineer will dictate how much the Engineer will actually make. As the majority of people go to work to earn money, the Engineer will be happier if he is getting a fair days pay, and is therefore more likely to do a good job for you.

So, things to consider:

- 80p to £1.20 per test is reasonable (depending upon the number of appliances)
- Expect to pay more (or a fixed price) if you have less that 50 appliances (£60 is reasonable)
- Find out the employment situation of the Engineer - a poorly paid Engineer will often do a bad job
- Some companies charge for fitting plugs and fuses, many don’t
- Some companies charge for microwave leakage tests (up to £15 per test), many don’t
- Some companies charge for a test report (by appliance) - this should be included in the price
- Some companies only supply a ‘pass or fail’ report, some provide full test results


Is it better to do the testing yourself, or should you employ the services of a contractor?
There are pros and cons with both sides of the argument. Testing in-house may offer you the flexibility to carry out the testing in a way which suits your operation - therefore potentially saving you some money. However, you need to consider:

- Who will do the testing? (and will they have time?)
- Will it end up being like painting the Forth Rail Bridge i.e. a never ending cycle of testing throughout the year?
- Have you the budget to pay for training and test equipment? Allow £1,000 per person for initial costs
- Don’t forget to check whether your insurance company is okay with you testing in-house
- Does your Public Liability Insurance cover you to test appliances? Can it be amended?
- Who will control the process and take care of record keeping?

Bringing in a contractor will negate many of the items list above, but it brings its own issues:
- Who should I get to do the testing?
- How do I know if they are reputable?
- Do the big PAT Testing companies do a better job than local Sole Traders?
- How do I know if they are doing a good job?
- Am I going to get value for money?
- If there is an incident in the future, who is liable?

Ultimately, you will need to do some research and decide what is best for your company. Take the time to review your options. If you decide to go in-house, invest in a good training course and quality test equipment (but don’t be tempted to buy the most expensive tester as cheaper, less complicated models are often more suitable). If you decide to bring in a contractor, don’t be afraid to shop around. Insist on a meeting and tell them what you want - don’t let them take over by ‘blinding you with science’.

Do all appliances need testing every year?
The frequency of testing is possibly the most argued subject in PAT Testing. Although there are guidelines produced by the HSE and IET, in many cases it is still decided to test everything every year. But who decides what to do?

Many factors need to be considered, including the work environment, classes of appliances, the user, the type of appliance etc, so it is impossible to come up with a blanket statement regarding test frequencies. In an ideal world, the PAT Test company would visit the site, review previous test results and make an informed decision based upon the industry guidelines. In reality, this rarely happens and the customer is encouraged to go with 12 monthly testing. In some cases this may be perfectly okay, but considering test frequencies can be anything from 3 months to 4 years (sometimes 5 years!), employers run the risk of not testing often enough. What would happen if there was an incident due to insufficient testing? On the other hand, what if you are testing too much? How much money are you wasting?

You need to work with your PAT testing company and come up with an appropriate programme. Each year this should be reviewed and amended as necessary. Remember, the guidelines offer ‘suggested initial frequencies’ - they are not set in stone, but are designed to help you.

Don’t forget, some appliances may need an interim Formal Visual Inspection, but you can make this easier to manage if you get a member of staff trained to carry this out, instead of bringing in the PAT Test company again.

What should I expect the PAT Test Engineer to do?
There are a number of stages which should be observed to ensure the job is completed safely, efficiently and to recognised standards.

- Agree Health & Safety procedures with you
- Discuss your PAT Testing requirements with you
- Establish where all of your appliances are located (including locked rooms, store cupboards, vans, out-buildings etc)
- Agree a ‘scope of works’ and a ‘plan of works’
- Complete a Risk Assessment and work permit
- Ensure appliances are isolated from sources of energy
- Carry out a Combined Inspection and Tests on all appliances covered within the scope of works (comprising of a thorough Formal Visual Inspection, relevent electrical tests using a calibrated electrical test meter, and a functional test)
- Record the test results accurately (either manually or electronically)
- Remove all previous PAT Test labels from each appliance
- Apply a new PAT label to each appliance showing the Unique Appliance ID Number (or barcode) and Re-test Date as a minimum. Other details such as Test Date, Engineer Initials and PAT Company information may also be present.
- Once the testing is completed, the Engineer should ensure all appliances have been inspected and tested.
- All failed appliances should have their fuse and/or plug removed to prevent accidental use
- The Failed Appliance Report should be discussed with you - detailing the location of all failed appliances, and the reason why they failed.
- A Full Test Report and Test Certificate should be provided (you need these to show the HSE and your Insurance Company in case of any future incidents)
- Ask you if you are happy with the service and thank you for your business

As we can see, PAT testing is a mixture of health & safety, inspection & testing, recording results and good communication.

Is there a qualification for PAT testing? Should I insist PAT Engineers are qualified?
Yes there is a PAT Testing qualification. City & Guilds 2377-12 is the current industry recognised qualification for Portable Appliance Testing.

Having passed this qualification many years ago, we can confirm that it has contributed very little to our everyday understanding of how to PAT Test. Although it covers some of the theory behind PAT testing - the legal side, basic principles and basic requirements etc, it doesn’t fully explain how to inspect and test in the field and how to overcome most of the issues the PAT Engineer will face. This comes with years of experience in different working environments.

The C&G 2377 is offered as a 1 or 2 day course by FE Colleges and private training companies. It is normally broken down into a theory section, a practical session and an online exam. The theory session is designed to brief you on the requirements of PAT Testing, and to prepare you for the examination. The practical session is simply to assess whether you can perform a formal visual inspection and complete the necessary electrical tests using a PAT test device.

It is an NVQ Level 3 course, with a 30 question multiple choice exam, but is open-book so delegates take the actual text book (with the answers) into the exam with them.

So, should you insist that PAT Engineers be qualified? Any demonstrated knowledge of PAT Testing is obviously going to be useful, but a qualified Engineer isn’t necessarily competent. More companies are putting greater relevence on the level of competence of the Engineer, rather than a piece of paper which they could have picked up yesterday.

It is important that the Engineer has relevent technical knowledge and practical experience in the field, as this is where the vast amount of knowledge of practical PAT Testing is gained.

Other PAT Training courses (such as those offered by Priory PAT Consultants) are based upon the Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment, and cover basic PAT theory, but more time is spent on inspection, testing methods, fault identification, interpreting results and recording data - all of which are of more use in an everyday PAT Testing situation.