Anything that plugs in is in scope for inspection, but not everything needs the same attention and new equipment usually needs none at all. The useful sort is by class and by use: class I equipment has an earth and is tested for earth continuity, class II is double insulated and is not, and hand-held portable equipment fails far more often than anything that sits still.
What items need PAT testing
Equipment connected by a plug and flex: kettles, microwaves, computers and monitors, printers, vacuum cleaners, power tools, heaters, lamps, chargers, and the extension leads and detachable power cables that connect them. Extension leads deserve naming separately, because they are handled, walked on and overloaded more than the equipment plugged into them.
Class I and class II
Class I equipment relies on an earth connection for safety and is tested for earth continuity as well as insulation. Class II is double insulated, carries the double square symbol and has no earth to test, so the inspection concentrates on the casing and the flex. Knowing which is which is why a competent tester is worth more than an instrument.
Fixed appliances and stationary equipment
A fixed hand dryer, a wall heater or a cooker connected to a fused spur is not portable, but it is still in-service electrical equipment and still needs maintaining. Many testers cover it on the same visit and record it on the same register. What it is not is part of the fixed wiring inspection, which is the EICR's job.
Do you need to PAT test new equipment?
New equipment should be supplied in a safe condition, so a formal test on arrival is not normally needed. What is worth doing is recording it on the asset register with its purchase date and giving it a visual check when it is unpacked, so the maintenance regime knows it exists and the first formal inspection falls due at a sensible point.
What can reasonably be left out
Equipment that never leaves a locked room and is never moved, battery-powered equipment with no mains connection in use, and items already covered by a manufacturer's maintenance contract, provided the reasoning is written down. Scope decisions are defensible when they are recorded and reviewed, and indefensible when they are habits.
PAT testing electrical equipment that is not portable
The word portable does most of the mischief here. The duty in regulation 4(2) covers electrical systems, which includes the fixed installation, hand tools, appliances that are moved rarely such as a vending machine or a photocopier, extension leads and detachable power cords. Cords and extension leads are the items most often missed and the ones that fail most, because they are trodden on and pulled from the socket by the cable. Anything hard wired belongs to the fixed installation and is inspected under a periodic report instead, so an item is either on the appliance register or on the installation report, and the common failure is for a piece of kit to be on neither.
Do new items need PAT testing, and does new equipment need PAT testing before first use?
A new item arrives with a declaration from its maker that it meets the standards it was built to, so it does not need a combined inspection and test to prove what the manufacturer has already certified. What it does need is a look before it is put into service, because damage in transit is real and a moulded plug can arrive cracked, and it needs to go on the register with its date so the first inspection interval starts from something. The judgement then follows the use: a new drill on a building site earns an early inspection, a new desk lamp in an office does not.
Other questions people ask
Do new appliances need PAT testing?
Not normally. New equipment should arrive in a safe condition; a visual check and an entry on the asset register are usually the sensible steps.
Do extension leads need testing?
Yes, and they are among the items most likely to fail. Each lead is a separate item on the register.
What is the difference between class I and class II for testing?
Class I has a protective earth and is tested for earth continuity. Class II is double insulated with no earth, so the inspection focuses on the casing, flex and insulation.
Does fixed equipment need PAT testing?
Fixed in-service equipment still needs maintaining and is commonly covered on the same visit, but the fixed wiring itself is inspected under an EICR.
How often should you PAT test?
On an interval set by the equipment and its use, not by a calendar: a building site transformer needs it far more often than an office printer. HSE guidance gives suggested intervals and the duty is to keep the equipment safe, which is what the interval serves.
PAT testing how often depends on what?
The equipment, the environment and how it is handled. A hand held tool on a building site earns a much shorter interval than a desktop printer, and the interval is reviewed against what the failures actually show rather than kept because it was set once.