PAT testing
PAT testing software for testers and in-house teams.
Label every appliance with a small QR that opens its live record, test a building from a phone, or import the results your PAT tester already exports. For in-house teams and for PAT contractors working at client sites. On every plan.
What you get
Small QR labels for plugs and cables
A small plug label (40 × 25 mm), a cable flag that wraps round the lead with the QR on both halves (100 × 25 mm), and a 54 × 17 mm size for desktop label printers. Each carries a short scan link and shows the appliance's code, name, site and location and "Scan for live status", with no pass mark and never a next-due date. An organisation setting (off by default) adds the test date and the tester's initials to labels printed after a passed test, for example "Tested 03/11/2026 · JS".
Printing from an appliance's record: Site Manager or Admin.
Blank label rolls, registered on first scan
Print a roll of 1 to 1,000 numbered blank labels as one PDF, or A4 sheets of 21 (63.5 × 38.1 mm). Scanning a blank on site registers it as a new appliance or attaches it to an existing one, so you can label as you go.
Printing rolls: Site Manager or Admin. Registering a blank: Inspector, Site Manager or Admin.
PAT session: scan, test, label
Pick the site and room, scan each label with the phone camera (or type its code) and fill one short form: class, visual check, earth continuity for Class I, insulation, leakage, polarity, pass or fail, and Tested by. Save & next moves to the next item. A failure queues a DO NOT USE label showing the date and the fault, and the session sends one failure summary rather than an email per item.
Contractor role and above.
Import from your PAT tester's CSV export
Upload the .csv or .txt file your tester's software exports, match the columns once (Hovermarks remembers the mapping) and check the preview. Appliance ID, test date and overall result are required; readings, tester name, retest interval and notes are optional. Each row becomes a completed PAT inspection on the right appliance, marked as imported. Unknown appliances are skipped or added as new ones, and importing the same file again creates nothing new. Up to 2,000 rows or 2 MB per file.
Contractor role and above.
Your interval, not the tester's
Each appliance sits on the schedule you set from your risk assessment, with overdue alerts and email reminders. A retest interval in the tester's file is shown on the report as "Recommended retest" and never changes the next-due date you set.
Schedules, overdue alerts and reminders are on every plan.
Who tested it, and for which company
The Tested by name appears on the record and the PDF report; it is a name, not a signature. When an outside contractor does the work, their records read "Name (Company)" on the inspection, the PDF, the CSV export and the auditor pack, and stay in your account.
Shown on every record.
What the label says, and why
Hovermarks labels show the appliance’s code, its name and location, and “Scan for live status”. They carry no pass mark and never a next-due date. HSE’s HSG107 (paragraph 54) says labels are not required by law and, if used, “there should not be a next test due date on it”, because the dutyholder decides when the next test is due on a risk assessment. A printed date goes stale; when your staff scan the label they see the current result, the next due date from your schedule and any open defect. If you want the test date on the label, turn on the organisation setting: labels printed after a passed test then show the test date and the tester’s initials, and blank labels on the larger roll sizes get a “Tested ____ Sign ____” line to fill in by hand. Where a rule asks for a dated, signed label, such as the short-term let licence condition in Scotland, check that this meets it; a tester’s own signed label alongside ours always does. The full reasoning is in PAT labels that tell the truth.
Use case
Testing an office, in-house or with a contractor
A facilities manager prints a roll of blank labels. On test day an inspector starts a PAT session for each room, sticks a label on each plug, scans it to register the appliance on the spot, records the readings and moves on with Save & next; failures get a DO NOT USE label straight away. If a PAT contractor does the testing instead, the client invites the contractor’s company and ticks the site. The contractor tests appliances that are already labelled, in a session or by importing their instrument’s CSV export at the end of the day. Either way the results land on the client’s appliance records under the tester’s name, and the client’s schedule decides when each item is next due.
What it does not do
- It does not connect to a PAT instrument directly: export a CSV or text file from the tester’s software and import that.
- It does not set your test intervals or treat a tester’s recommendation as your schedule.
- It needs a data connection to open, load appliances and save each item in a session.
- Contractors cannot register blank labels, and can add new appliances only if the client allows it.
Frequently asked questions
- Which PAT plans include this?
- All of them. Small plug labels and cable flags, blank label rolls, PAT sessions, CSV import and contractor access are on Starter, Professional and Enterprise, and in the 30-day free trial. What you can do depends on your role, not your plan. Each appliance is an asset, so it counts toward your plan's asset limit: 100 on Starter, 500 on Professional, and unlimited during the trial.
- Which PAT testers can I import from?
- Any whose software can export results as a CSV or text file. The import is a column mapping, not a link to a particular instrument: you match your file's columns to appliance ID, test date, overall result and the optional readings, and Hovermarks remembers the mapping for next time. Excel files need saving as CSV first.
- Why don't the labels show a pass or a next test date?
- HSE's guidance HSG107 (paragraph 54) says that if a label is used there should not be a next test due date on it, because the dutyholder, not the tester, decides when the next test is due. Our labels show the appliance's code, name and location and "Scan for live status" instead, so a scan by your staff shows the current result and due date. Failed items get a DO NOT USE label with the date and fault.
- Can a contractor run PAT at our sites?
- Yes. Invite the contractor's company with the Contractor role and tick the sites they work at. They run PAT sessions and imports there and their records stay in your account. If their own company is on a paid Hovermarks plan, their own licence covers the work, so they don't use one of your seats; otherwise you assign one. By default they cannot add new appliances; an Admin can allow it in Settings.
- Does it work without a signal?
- No. A PAT session needs a data connection to save each item. If the connection drops while saving, tap Save & next again; a page reload resumes the session.
- Is PAT testing a legal requirement?
- For employers in Great Britain, HSE says no: the law requires electrical equipment to be maintained to prevent danger and does not say how or how often. Some landlords have specific rules. See how often PAT testing is needed and the landlords page.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Quotations from legislation and HSE guidance are Crown copyright. Hovermarks is not endorsed by HSE or any other public body.
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