Legislation:

There are four main sets of legislation relating to in-service inspection and testing of electrical equipment or Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) as it is more commonly known. These are:- The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, The Management of the Health and Safety at Work Act Regulations 1999, The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989.

Regulation 4 (2) of The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 states: “As may be necessary to prevent danger, all systems shall be maintained so as to prevent, so far as is reasonably practicable, such danger”.

Regulation 5 of The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 states: “Every employer shall ensure that work equipment is maintained in an efficient state, efficient working order and in good repair”

In order to meet these requirements, it is recommended to implement a programme of planned inspection and testing of portable appliances.

What is a portable appliance?

A “portable” appliance constitutes any item that has a plug and is connected to a mains socket in order to operate. It can be hand held, portable or fixed. Such items would include the following:

PCs, monitors, printers, fax machines, mailing equipment, scanners, kettles, fans, portable air conditioning/heaters, radios, stereos, TVs, projectors, microwaves, toasters, drink machines, water coolers, mobile phone chargers, power supply units, extension leads, tills, credit card machines, compressors, photocopiers and any specialist trade equipment such as hair dryers, drills, soldering irons, chip fryers, hedge trimmers, lathes, beauty/tanning equipment.