PATBook — PAT Testing Resources

PATBook is a record-keeping and certificate-preparation tool — not a testing service. It helps you record your own portable-appliance test results and prepare a certificate and asset register. It does not determine, compute, or guarantee whether any appliance is safe — PASS or FAIL is your professional judgement based on your own visual inspection and instrument readings. Test methods, pass limits, and retest intervals must follow the current IET Code of Practice and your own risk assessment. You are responsible for the accuracy and sufficiency of every record and certificate you produce.

The legal and code-of-practice background

• HSE — Maintaining portable electrical equipment (PAT) FAQs — the regulator's plain-English position: there is no legal requirement to label equipment or keep a register, and no fixed test interval. A maintained record is the accepted evidence of due diligence.
• Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 — the duty to keep electrical equipment in a safe condition. The Regs do not name "PAT" or set an interval.
• IET — Codes of Practice — the IET Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment (the "PAT CoP"), the recognised industry method. The 5th edition is risk-based and records actual measured values.

Pass-limit guidance (reference only)

• Earth continuity (Class I): typically ≤ 0.1 Ω + the resistance of the lead (R).
• Insulation resistance: ≥ 1 MΩ for Class I, ≥ 2 MΩ for Class II, and ≥ 0.3 MΩ for Class I heating/cooking appliances over 3 kW.
• These are starting-point figures from the IET CoP — always confirm against the current edition and your own risk assessment. PATBook shows them as inline guidance and never auto-marks a result.

Retest intervals are risk-based

The IET CoP 5th edition removed the old fixed-frequency table in favour of risk-based intervals. PATBook ships sensible starting-point presets (construction 110V at 3 months, Class I handheld at 6 months, Class II handheld and office IT at 12–48 months) that you adjust by risk. They are guidance, not a legal requirement.

• PAT testing frequency — guidance overview

Why the record matters

After an electrical incident, an employer, landlord, insurer or HSE inspector relies on the maintained test record and certificate as evidence of due diligence. Keeping a complete, dated record for every appliance — with the actual readings, the result, the tester and the next-due date — is exactly what PATBook is built to help you do. The inspection, the readings and the PASS/FAIL judgement remain yours.

Honest scope

These resources are starting points, not a substitute for the IET Code of Practice, your training, or your own risk assessment. PATBook records what you enter and prepares a certificate from it; it cannot tell you whether a particular appliance is safe. That judgement is yours.

Questions about the app? support@clearstackapps.com