Key changes in Edition 5 of the Code of Practice for In-service Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment

 Edition 5 of the Code of Practice has been updated significantly. Below is a summary of the major ones that have been taken into account during the update to this handbook.

(The Sections in brackets refer to the Handbook of Portable Appliance Testing)

Reference to PAT Testing

In this edition all reference to Type of Appliance (handheld, portable, stationary etc) has been removed. In order that duty holders interpret PAT Testing as not applying to stationary appliances all reference to ‘Portable Appliance Testing’ ‘portable appliances’ and PAT have been removed. However, this is a massive change to our industry and there is no sign that the term Portable Appliance Testing and the abbreviation PAT Tester is going to be stopped being used widely.

Fixed Electrical Equipment (Section 4)

There is a cautionary note to the duty holder of the risk that some fixed electrical equipment might fall in the gap between PAT Testing and the routine fixed-wiring electrical inspection.  Chapter 5 deals with different types of appliances and has advice on how to deal with them.

New symbol for Class II with functional Earth (Section 6)

This symbol is introduced along with explanation of what it means and how to test appliances displaying it. Information on the symbol has been included in Chapter 4 which deals with Class of equipment.

Changes to Test limits and methods (Section 10)

For the Earth Continuity test, a test limit of 0.5 ohms has been introduced for older appliances. The COP also tries to give recommendations of when to use a High or Low current for the Earth Continuity test. This is covered in Chapter 13 of this handbook. The test limit for the Earth Leakage test has been rationalized and is now less than 5 mA for a Pass. Chapter 15 has been updated to reflect this.

Guidance on frequency of testing (Section 11)

Table 7.1 (Guidance on the initial frequency of Inspection and Testing of equipment) has been removed. Instead, the COP encourages the duty holder to carry out a risk assessment and gives various examples. In Chapter 7 of this handbook, we provide both a way of carrying out a risk assessment and a Table based guidance on how the frequency of maintenance can be worked out. 

There is a useful calculator on this page.