Can I PAT test my own equipment?

To consider a person competent in electrical appliance safety testing they need to have relevant experience, be suitably trained and preferably qualified.

If the person is not qualified they must have had extensive on the job training by an experienced competent person.

• An online course, or even one day practical course is not enough to make someone competent to PAT Test.

Providing you meet all these competencies there is no real reason why you shouldn’t do your own PAT testing, however, bare in mind that you need paperwork to confirm your equipment is safe – a specialist PAT Testing company will be able to provide you with a PAT Certificate  – for you to do that you’re going to have to go to the expense of software too.

When considering taking PAT Testing in house, think about why people do it, and why it is very rarely done in house, even by the biggest, richest companies:

You have to find a person in your current team with an understanding and interest in electrical safety, you have to then train them appropriately to a level where they can be deemed competent in electrical safety, or put them through the City and Guilds 2377 qualification then get them some training. Either way the person must be competent in electrical safety, electrical repairs and use of the equipment needed to test.

Chances are they are going to need some work experience too – not many people can do a course then go out testing on day 1 and be a success, especially if it isnt their main job.

That person also then gets taken away from their job for a number of weeks in order to undertake the testing. In my experience, what an experienced PAT tester can do in a day may take someone with little or no experience up to a week! Think how long your PAT Testers are on site? We recently lost a contract for a caravan park, because their owners felt it cheaper to take it in house. We had a team of 4 engineers on the part for a week – that’s 20 working days – how long do you think it’ll take their maintenance guy with all his other duties too?

If it doesn’t get done their is a compliance risk.

You have to buy your own testing equipment which can be anything from £500 to £2000.00; you have to calibrate it annually, buy tools spare parts, and know what to do with them.

If that person isn’t PAT testing regularly he’s going to forget what to do, so come next year, will he remember what to do? Or do you need to put him on a refresher course. You’ve spent thousands by now, trying to save money.

And to make matters worse, as he (or she) is unlikely to be competent, the chance of an accident occurring is heightened because a fault gets missed, and if that happens can you protect yourself from legal action? No… because you allowed a person who was not competent to test your electrical equipment to make sure it is safe. By doing so you did not meet your obligations of the Health and Safety At Work Act, the Electricity at Work Act and others.

I have seen many companies try to take PAT in house, and all have come back to us asking us to take over; it’s not worth trying to do it, just accept it is best to get on with what you do best and contract out what you can’t do yourself.

If you want to learn about how to PAT test your own equipment, we recommend you sign up for a PAT Testing training Course. We recommend the one-day courses by the PAT Testing Expert, which provide a great insight into what PAT is and will give you enough information to get started.

PAT Testing is a skill, something that requires training and experience to do well, and at the desired pace. Sometimes companies look at the possibility of training staff to do it in-house, and we totally understand why they consider this, but is it the best course of action? 

As an example, your handyman, admin assistant, lab technician, etc. goes on a course to learn the basics of PAT testing. You buy them a tester and some tools, they test your equipment.

Let’s say for example, you have an office with 20 computers, it’s going to take them a few days to test all that. Then when they come to do it again in a year or two, they have forgotten what to do. It’s cost you the best part of a thousand pounds so far, plus the lost work time for that staff member. 

If you used us to do your PAT tests in the first place, it may have cost you £200.00. The job would have been done in a day, and disruption for your business would have been minimal. 

What would have been better? 

You could get that person trained in-house so they can make sure user checks are being done, or that the PAT is being implemented correctly, but being honest, its far easier, and cheaper just to get a contractor in to do the job. 

Don’t waste your time and money PAT testing your own equipment – get us to do it for you. 

You’re not going to save money by taking your PAT testing in-house; set up costs alone will be around one thousand pounds, not to mention loss of work time for the person doing the task. Contracting us to do your PAT tests will be better for you. It’s going to save you time and money, and effort.