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Portable Appliance Testing

Since April 1st 1990 it has been a legal requirement for employers and the self employed to have all portable electrical appliances and equipment periodically inspected and tested for compliance with the safety regulations.

You may be wondering what the term *portable appliance* means, in general a portable appliance is one that (a) can be carried from place to place between periods of use and (b) is connected to a power supply via a plug fixed to a flexible supply cable. Any electrical portable appliance that fits this description is subject to electrical appliance testing.

The tests required fall in to two categories:

Visual Inspection - This is the most important element of portable appliance testing as over 80% of potential hazards are detected by physical inspection. The test engineer will be looking for hazards such as damage to the insulation of the appliance or the mains lead, incorrect wiring or fuse rating of the mains plug, unsafe cable joints, loose connections and accessible live conductors.

Electrical Testing - The type of electrical testing performed on portable appliances depends on the safety design itself.
Class I portable appliances are the most common type, it relies on the earthing of it's conductive case and one layer of insulation covering it's live internal parts for it's prevention against electric shock.
Class II appliances have no earth connection and rely on two layers of insulation, which covers the live parts as protection to the user. Usually the second layer of insulation is the case of the appliance itself.

Our Portable Appliance Testing Regime can include all of the following, subject to your specific requirements:
estimated annual cost to society through accidents and ill health is £11 to £16 billion Testing of all 110 / 240v equipment
25 million working days are lost annually Fully trained PAT Testers (City & Guilds standards)
25000 people are forced to give up work through injury Test certificates issued for each item (if required)
Uninsured losses amount to £315 per employee Tags / labels affixed to each item.
accidents account for 37% of profits Full management service for retesting, repairs etc.
accidents account for 37% of profits Equipment schedule and status report
accidents account for 37% of profits Completion report summarising the condition of equipment, equipment repaired etc.


Many companies are contracting out the arduous task of inspecting and testing electrical equipment thus saving time and money by having the service completed quickly with minimum disruption.

We find in general that, taking into account the administration time and the fact that we complete all the testing of the equipment at the point of use and our technicians specialise in appliance testing, our fees equate to around half the cost of organising it yourself

.Please telephone for an informal discussion concerning your requirements.