Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, UK wide
PAT Testing and In-Service Electrical Equipment Testing
Portable appliance testing is not a legal requirement and no regulation sets an annual frequency for it. What the law does require is that electrical equipment is maintained so that it does not give rise to danger. AL23 Safety designs and runs risk based in-service inspection and testing schemes that evidence that duty, for clients UK wide.
What is PAT testing?
A method of evidencing a maintenance duty, not a duty in itself
PAT is shorthand for the in-service inspection and testing of electrical equipment. Done properly it is three activities. Users check equipment before use, a trained person carries out a formal visual inspection at set intervals and a competent person carries out combined inspection and testing where risk justifies it.
The distinction matters because of cost. Most failures on a typical site are damaged leads, cracked plugs, taped joints and scorched casings, all of which a visual inspection finds. Testing adds most value on earthed equipment, where a broken earth cannot be seen. A scheme that tests everything annually spends the budget in the wrong place.
Who needs one
Anyone who provides electrical equipment for use at work
- Employers of any size, from a single office to a multi-site manufacturing group, under the duty to maintain electrical systems.
- Construction sites, workshops and kitchens, where movement, moisture and heat damage equipment far faster than office use does.
- Schools, colleges and universities running technology workshops, laboratories and halls of residence.
- Hire companies and anyone who lends equipment out, where the condition on return is unknown.
- Registered providers of social housing in England, who now hold a genuine statutory duty on equipment they supply.
The regulations that apply
Your legal framework, in plain terms
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 sit under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and apply to every workplace in Great Britain. They are supported by the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 for equipment maintenance generally. One further set of rules, the Electrical Safety Standards in the Private Rented Sector (England) (Amendment) (Extension to the Social Rented Sector) Regulations 2025, creates the single genuine statutory testing duty on in-service equipment in England.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4(2)
All systems must be maintained, as may be necessary to prevent danger, in a way that prevents danger so far as is reasonably practicable. This is the whole legal basis for PAT.
Electricity at Work Regulations 1989, regulation 4(1)
Systems must be constructed so as to prevent danger so far as is reasonably practicable, which brings the suitability of the equipment for its environment into scope.
PUWER 1998, regulation 5
Work equipment must be maintained in an efficient state, in efficient working order and in good repair.
Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974, section 2
The general duty to provide and maintain safe plant and safe systems of work.
The 2025 social housing extension, regulation 3B
Registered providers of social housing in England must ensure that electrical equipment and fixtures they provide are safe, are checked before the tenancy begins and are checked at regular intervals not exceeding five years.
The honest bit about frequency and labels
HSE could not be clearer on this. The Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently. They do not make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement and they do not require it annually. There is also no legal requirement to label equipment that has been inspected or tested and no legal requirement to keep records.
Labels and records are still worth having. They let you show an inspector, an insurer or a court that a maintenance scheme exists and works. What they are not is the duty. Any provider quoting for annual PAT on every item without asking about your environment is selling a habit rather than compliance.
The one real exception is social housing in England. Registered providers must have landlord supplied equipment checked before a tenancy commences and at intervals of no more than five years, with unsafe items repaired or replaced within 28 days. Those Regulations came into force on 1 November 2025 for most purposes. The duties bite from 1 May 2026 for tenancies granted before 1 December 2025. If you run rented stock, read our social housing health and safety page alongside this one.
What the service covers
A risk based scheme, not a blanket sticker cycle
- An asset register built or corrected on site. Unrecorded equipment is unmaintained equipment.
- Classification of every item as Class I earthed or Class II double insulated, the single biggest driver of whether testing adds anything.
- A documented risk based interval for each equipment group, following the IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment.
- User check briefings that teach the people holding the equipment to look for damaged leads, taped joints, exposed wires, cracked casings and scorch marks.
- Formal visual inspection, including the internal plug check on rewireable plugs for fuse rating, terminal tightness and cord grip.
- Combined inspection and testing where risk justifies it, covering earth continuity, insulation resistance, polarity and function.
- Extension leads, adaptors, chargers and IT power leads, which fail more often than the appliances on the end of them.
- Higher risk populations treated separately, including 110 volt site tools, kitchen equipment and cleaning machines, plus fixed and stationary items that sit outside the portable category.
- Failure analysis across rounds. Intervals lengthen where results justify it and shorten where they do not.
- The interface with the fixed installation, since a socket fault keeps destroying appliances until fixed wire testing and EICR finds it.
Our process
Scoped, classified, tested only where risk justifies it
- 01
Scope and survey
We walk the site, count and classify the equipment and identify the environments that drive risk. Most first surveys turn up items no register knew about.
- 02
Interval design
We set an initial interval for each equipment group from class, portability, environment, user group and manufacturer instructions. The reasoning is written down.
- 03
Inspection and testing
We carry out formal visual inspection and, where justified, combined inspection and testing, using calibrated instruments and recording results item by item.
- 04
Report and remediation
Failures are split into three groups. Remove from service now, repair and retest or replace at the next refresh. Nothing ambiguous is left on the floor.
- 05
Review
After each round we compare failure rates against the intervals we set and adjust them. Three clean rounds on a group earns a longer interval, on the record.
What you get
A register, a schedule and defensible records
- An asset register with a unique reference, location, class and description for every item.
- An in-service inspection and testing schedule stating the interval for each equipment group and the reasoning behind it.
- Item level results, with test values where combined testing was carried out.
- A failed equipment schedule listing what was removed from service and why.
- A short written scheme document evidencing the regulation 4(2) duty for an insurer, an auditor or an HSE inspector.
- Labelling where you want it, applied as a management aid rather than as a legal requirement.
What we need from you
Access, any existing records and a decision maker
- Access to all areas holding equipment, including store rooms, plant rooms, kitchens and vehicles.
- Any existing register and previous test results.
- A named contact who can authorise removing an item from service on the day.
- Notice of any equipment that cannot be powered down.
Why AL23 Safety
We scope the risk, not sell a habit
Accountable
We will tell you when you are buying more testing than the risk warrants. We would rather scope a smaller job properly than sell a bigger one.
Expert and chartered
Qualified, chartered professionals working to the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 and the current IET Code of Practice rather than to a sticker cycle.
Practical, not just compliant
Our schemes are written so your own staff run the user checks and visual inspections, with specialist testing reserved for what needs it.
UK wide
We deliver electrical equipment testing programmes across the UK, single site or portfolio. We join them up with your wider health and safety audits.
Get the scheme right before you buy the testing
Tell us what you have and where it lives
An item count and a description of your environments is enough for us to describe a defensible scheme. If the honest answer is that you need less than you currently pay for, we will say so.
Common questions
Answers, up front
Cannot see your question? Get in touch and we will answer it directly.
Contact usNo. HSE states plainly that the Regulations do not make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to do it annually. The duty is to maintain electrical systems so as to prevent danger, under regulation 4(2) of the Electricity at Work Regulations 1989. Testing is one way of evidencing that you have.
There is no statutory frequency. The interval depends on equipment class, whether it is hand-held or fixed, how often it moves, the environment and who uses it. HSE publishes suggested intervals for low risk environments such as offices and shops in INDG236. Those suggestions do not apply to construction sites, workshops, kitchens or wet environments, which need shorter intervals derived from risk.
No. HSE is explicit that PAT does not have to be done by an electrician. Combined inspection and testing needs greater knowledge, experience and the right test equipment, which is a competence question rather than a qualification question. Formal visual inspection needs basic training and user checks need only a briefing.
There is no legal requirement to do either. HSE nonetheless recognises both as useful management tools for showing that a maintenance scheme exists and is working. We recommend records in every case and labels where they help your staff.
Yes. This is the one real exception. Under the 2025 extension of the private rented sector electrical safety regime to the social rented sector, registered providers in England must ensure equipment they supply is safe, is checked before a tenancy starts and is checked at intervals of no more than five years, with unsafe items remedied or replaced within 28 days. That is a genuine statutory in-service testing duty and it is the only one of its kind in the UK.
Cost is driven by item count, the mix of Class I and Class II equipment, how spread out the assets are and whether the register has to be built from scratch. A first round on an unregistered site costs more than a repeat round. Send us an approximate item count and a list of your buildings and we will price it properly.
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