Hello folks and a warm welcome to you all to this the first “occasional” monthly newsletter of 2016. We will do our best to inform and increase awareness of Electrical Health and Safety via stories and information and whilst in passing I will give you an update of my impending book launch; “Newcastle Old and New the story so far…” With xmas just a distance memory away we look forward to a brave new year, talking of New Year we had a few enquiries for the PAT testing of band and DJ sound equipment during the holidays and we were quite horrified how short notice people had left it! You see Events organising and PAT testing are a very important partnership and what better way to explain than via a genuine story…
Events organising and PAT testing - a very important partnership
A few years ago on a Saturday afternoon there was a knock on the door and it was Alison’s brother, an IT 
programmer by day and a leader of a Blues band by night... looking unusually agitated he asked for Alison as he needed some band equipment PAT tested fairly urgently, thinking it was for the next day or so? Naturally as it’s her brother living not far away Alison grabbed her PAT test machine, work haversack and dashed off with him not bothering to change out of her house togs as she was only going to his house – or so she thought?
Anyway as the hours ticked by whilst I worked away I could almost count the coffees and the chatting she was having with her brother – however after four hours I was getting a tad concerned.. Nearly five hours had passed and a bedraggled Alison turned up and then I got the full story... her brother and his band had the honour of hosting the entertainment for a “very” lavish wedding at a hotel nearby. However the new manager had, without any warning turned round to the band and the various DJs, singers etc. and said; “if this equipment is not PAT tested then the wedding entertainment is off and out of here!” You can just imagine the panic?
So paint the scene, Alison is dragged in at very short notice to a very expensive wedding, band guys hanging around very nervously expecting to get chucked out, hotel manager and supervisors hovering... but after four hours and nearly two hundred tests later in a true pressure cooker of an environment Alison had passed all of the band equipment with only two fails.. A wedding entertainment saved the integrity of a hotel and band maintained [thanks to the quick thinking of the brother in law!] and also a long tem client gained... and of course the whole point of it all is that she had potentially saved or at the very least prevented electrical injuries without the resulting law suits no doubt? Big signs of relief all round!
Now as always there is a moral to a story, in fact on this occasion there are two...
1. Whether you are organising an event, are a band, a DJ, or simply carrying out a business presentation at a hotel, these venues have hefty insurance costs with many conditions “including” Portable Appliance Certification which everybody has to meet. If you use any electrical equipment throughout the nature of your business and if you do not meet these requirements you could be ejected – and maybe even on the day of an expensive event do... so just for a moment think of the cost, the embarrassment to you, and of course to your client??
2. Electricity, handled incorrectly “Kills” or at the very least maims! Sorry to be dramatic but life sucks! Worse still it’s difficult to see any warning signs; i.e. cables or plugs may appear perfectly intact, all present and correct but it’s a true case of “seeing is not always believing”, so don’t assume. The good news is that deaths and injuries are getting lower each year which “means” we are doing our job and slowly getting the message across by encouraging vigilance. Now this is not a plug [bad joke intended] for our services but what we charge and others like us is a tiny proportion compared to the costs, the implications to life and ultimately to businesses – don’t take the chance, please...
On a definite lighter note
Ta ta for now,