According to the Health & Safety executive, around 25% of all electrical accidents involve portable appliances, so it’s very important that all equipment is tested and labelled as safe to use. PAT Testing is the examination of electrical equipment to make sure it’s safe.
The PAT Test will usually last between a month and a year depending on the type of appliance and the environment it will be used in. There can often be confusion as to what appliances need PAT Testing and how long often it should be renewed.
The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 states that electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently. and is carried out by our fully qualified engineer
To be safe, we recommend that bands, musicians and other types of entertainers should have all items of electrical equipment that will feature in their performance PAT tested regularly. Everything from amplifiers to keyboards, lighting rigs and DJ decks!
PAT test stickers are often used to help keep a record of when an appliance was last PAT tested.
A venue has every right to cancel your performance if your equipment is not deemed safe for public use. In order to avoid this you should remember to have all equipment that you intend to use for your performance regularly checked over.
Test carried out
- Insulation resistance from the live conductors in the mains plug or equipment mains inlet connector – to any external conductive parts. Many Plugtop power supplies / phone chargers and laptop chargers come into this category ( Class II) – so an insulation test is done from the mains inlet to the connections on the low voltage output lead
- Fix “tested” label to each item of equipment. Label will show : Date of test / Date of re-test, Asset list Number and testing authority identification ( signature / name of company) For things like mains leads – its useful to also show the plug top fuse rating too on the label.
- Label any equipment that fails testing as “not to be used” ( and record on the asset register)
- Issue full asset list with all test results
- Issue Test Certificate
Our PAT testing costs £2 per item and is carried out by our fully qualified engineer.
