PAT testing or more correctly ‘In Service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment’ is a useful bolt-on skill for the electrician to gain. It can be used as an ‘at cost’ or ‘loss leader’ to approach businesses and get a foot in the door and the clever technician will keep a sharp eye open for faults and broken equipment that he can quote for, not forgetting of course the possibility of carrying out the periodic testing.

However in many and perhaps most cases this vital Health and Safety operation is carried out by companies specialising in the business and doing a pretty appalling job of it, treating the PAT testing apparatus as a cash register, expecting unrealistic numbers of tests by their operatives. This is where you could help improve this lamentable state of affairs by offering a proper, knowledgeable, and professional service.

PAT testing done properly is not difficult but it can be arduous depending on the circumstance and environment. People tend to be your biggest problem and if you are not a ‘people person’ it will be that much harder.

PAT test equipment is not cheap and there are huge differences, quality and usability and performance not only with the hardware but also the software which ranges from acceptable to virtually unusable. Price is not always your best guide. Try before you buy, both the hardware and software otherwise it’ll be a decision you’ll come to regret possibly on a daily basis!

The simple ‘Yes/No’ testers are of almost no use and provide no useful information or data and are sold to persons who have no skills in testing at all and by definition should not be performing any electrical testing. The downloading testers are useful but expensive and only viable if you have more than a couple of dozen tests to do every now and again.

Your tester should at least be able to display a numerical result that you can check against the book.

Our course is over 2 days with the first day given over to teaching the course and the second for assessments.

Course Fees:

All fees are as listed. There is a booking fee of £100 payable on booking. This is non-refundable as it covers the costs of exam registration etc. This is non-refundable but may be transferred to a later course by arrangement. We’ve had to introduce this as we have had several late cancellations and no shows which puts the courses in jeopardy and costs us. The balance of the fee is due before the start of the course and can be invoiced or paid by bank transfer or credit/debit card.