How often does PAT testing need to be done?

Employers and anyone in control of work equipment must keep electrical equipment safe under the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. How they do that, and how often, is for them to decide based on risk. In England, social landlords must now have the electrical equipment they provide under a tenancy checked at least every 5 years. Private landlords in England have no specific appliance-testing rule, although appliances they provide still need to be safe. Tenants are responsible for their own appliances.

• For most workplaces there is no expiry. The risk is equipment that has become unsafe without anyone noticing, which would breach the duty to maintain it.
• For social landlords in England, a missed 5-yearly check is a breach of the electrical safety regulations. The council can serve a remedial notice and impose a financial penalty of up to £40,000.
• If a check finds equipment unsafe, social landlords must tell the tenant at once and repair or replace it within 28 days.
• In Scotland, private landlords who miss the 5-yearly in-service test do not meet the Repairing Standard.

1. 1

   List your equipment

   Keep a simple register: item, location, class (earthed or double insulated), and how often it is moved or handled.

2. 2

   Set intervals by risk

   Use HSE’s table as a starting point. Hand-held and earthed items used often need checks more often than a computer that never moves.

3. 3

   Train staff for user checks

   In low-risk workplaces a sensible, trained member of staff can do visual inspections. Ask them to look for damaged cables, plugs and casings.

4. 4

   Book a competent tester for combined tests

   Combined inspection and testing needs the right equipment and the knowledge to read the results. Social landlords must use a qualified person.

5. 5

   Deal with failures the same day

   Take failed items out of use. Repair or replace them, and record what you did.

6. 6

   Review the intervals

   HSE’s intervals are starting points. Review your results and decide whether to decrease or increase the intervals.

A simple reminder plan: 30 days, 14 days, 7 days before the expiry date. The calculator above puts these in your calendar.

• An equipment register with each item’s interval.
• Inspection and test results. HSE says records are not a legal requirement but are a useful way to show you manage the risk.
• Social landlords: the in-service inspection and testing record for each supplied appliance, kept until the next check.
• Records of items repaired, replaced or withdrawn.

• Testing everything every year because a supplier said it is the law. It is not.
• Testing brand new equipment. HSE says new items should arrive safe; a quick visual check is enough.
• Ignoring extension leads and chargers. HSE’s table treats them like the equipment they supply.
• Relying on a pass sticker and skipping user checks between tests.
• Social landlords assuming the EICR covers appliances. Supplied equipment has its own 5-yearly check.