The PAT Testing Procedure

After Ascertaining Areas with Critical Equipment such as servers, testing will start with the most important or most used Appliances, enabling the day’s work to continue unhindered.

The Testing starts systematically, visually checking the safety as follows:

Plug, Fuse, Wiring, Cable & Casing of the Appliance

  1. Starting with the plug, Is it damaged? Signs of overheating? Sheathing on live/neutral connections? All screw connections tight & not loose or missing? Cord grips tight? Only outer sheath visible etc.
  2. Fuses, check that the correct rating is used for the appliance
  3. Wiring, check that the wiring has been correctly connected
  4. Cable/Cord, Is there any damage ie overheating or crushing? Has it been taped up? Any evidence of internal cores visible?
  5. Appliance Casing, Is there any damage? Is there access to live parts? Discolouration indicating possible overheating?

Before the start of Pat testing, the power point to be used would be checked to ensure a good earth (bond) & live/neutral are correct.

Now the information regarding each Appliance can be entered into the Pat Tester, Which includes Asset number, type of test to be carried out, fuse rating, Description, Area appliance kept, frequency of test, rating of appliance.

Then the testing is carried out as below:

  1. The Earth Bond Test (if applicable) Class 1 Appliances
  2. Insulation Test Class 1 & 2
  3. Load Test
  4. Earth Leakage Measurement
  5. Functional Check

All the tests are logged into the Pat Tester at the time of testing; the information is then downloaded for certification and printed off.