What counts as a portable appliance
The term is broader than most people expect. It covers anything connected to the fixed installation by a plug and socket or a flexible cable: hand-held equipment such as drills and hairdryers, moveable equipment such as vacuum cleaners and heaters, stationary equipment such as fridges and washing machines, IT equipment including monitors and chargers, and, importantly, extension leads and adaptors, which fail more often than anything else on a typical site. Fixed equipment wired directly into the installation is covered by the EICR instead, not by PAT testing.
The IET Code of Practice and risk-based intervals
There is no legal interval for PAT testing. The IET Code of Practice sets out a risk-based approach: consider the equipment type, the environment it works in, how often it is moved, who uses it, and the history of previous test results. A desktop PC in a quiet office is a very different risk to a floor polisher dragged around a pub every night. We set intervals per class of equipment, document the reasoning, and give you a retest date on the register so you are never guessing.
PAT testing for landlords and HMOs
If you supply appliances with a tenancy, you are responsible for their safety for the duration of that tenancy. There is no statutory PAT requirement for a standard single-family let in England, but HMO licensing conditions frequently do require appliance testing, and every landlord insurer will ask what evidence you hold after a fire. Practically, we test between tenancies where possible, cover the white goods, any supplied small appliances, and the extension leads left in the property, and give you a register you can attach to the inventory.
PAT testing for offices, retail and hospitality
Commercial sites are usually about volume and access. Offices are IT-heavy with hundreds of low-risk items and a handful of high-risk extension leads. Retail adds tills, display lighting and cleaning equipment. Hospitality is the hardest environment for cable, with catering equipment, wet areas and constant movement, so kitchen items are typically tested annually. We phase large sites by floor or department, test out of trading hours where needed, and hand back one consolidated register rather than a pile of loose certificates.
What happens when an item fails
Failures fall into two groups. Repairable items, wrong fuse rating, damaged plug top, loose cord grip, frayed outer sheath near the plug, are repaired on the day where the appliance itself is sound, then retested and passed. Items that fail on insulation resistance or earth continuity, or that have damaged casings or internal faults, are labelled as failed, taken out of service and recorded on the register with the reason. We never quietly pass a borderline item, and we do not condemn equipment that a two-minute repair will make safe.
How PAT testing fits alongside your EICR
The two together cover the whole picture. The EICR covers the fixed installation up to and including the socket outlets; PAT testing covers everything plugged into them. Neither replaces the other, and the most common gap we see is a business with a satisfactory five-year EICR and a stockroom full of untested extension leads. Running both through one contractor means the records line up, the retest dates are coordinated, and any faults found at the socket during PAT testing are followed up on the fixed side straight away.
