Who can carry out PAT testing?
HSE does not require every portable appliance tester to be an electrician. The person must be competent for the work they perform. Combined inspection and testing needs the right equipment, the ability to use it and the knowledge to interpret results and take safe action.
Check my situationCheck the person, equipment and decision process
Ask who will attend, what equipment groups they are competent to inspect, which test instruments they will use and how they decide the correct test for each item. Competence must cover safe isolation, result interpretation, failed-item action and any fixed or specialist equipment accepted in the scope.
- Request the named tester’s training, experience and authorisation for the equipment groups.
- Check instrument identification, calibration arrangements and the proposed inspection and test sequence.
- Review an example register showing results, failures, exclusions, repairs and next-action advice.
What to do next: Verify current insurance and any qualification or membership claims with the issuing body. State who may repair equipment, who decides whether a failed item returns to service and how urgent defects are reported before the tester leaves.
Competence evidence
A course certificate alone does not show that the tester can classify equipment, select a suitable method, interpret readings or manage an unsafe result. Ask for recent work with comparable equipment and settings.
Where fixed, specialist, medical or production equipment is included, require evidence for that work or remove it from the PAT scope and appoint the right specialist.
Inspection and test method
Visual inspection remains part of the process because some defects cannot be detected by an instrument. The proposal should explain how equipment type, construction and environment affect the checks and tests.
- Equipment identification and classification
- Formal visual inspection
- Suitable electrical tests
- Safe shutdown and reconnection
- Pass, fail and defect criteria
Provider evidence limits
Vendor Atlas records claims from provider pages, including stated coverage, prices and deliverables. That evidence does not approve the firm or prove the competence of the person assigned to a booking.
Keep the appointment evidence: quotation, insurance certificate, named tester, agreed scope, exclusions, instrument details, register and failure actions.