Entertainers take notice

In March 2014, the HSE released the new document “Electrical Safety for Entertainers” that states that you need to get regular electrical checks done on your equipment.

It’s becoming very common that the venue’s where you perform are requesting to see PAT testing certificates to prove your electrical equipment has been checked for its safety. Some venue’s are even turning away entertainers who have not had their equipment checked.

It’s because they’re worried for their own liability.

If a hotel for example, allows a singer who is booked for a wedding to use her own equipment that hasn’t been checked, and it overheats and starts a fire, leading to damage to the hotel and potentially the end of the wedding celebrations the venue will be forced to claim on it’s insurance. As the fire was started by your equipment, and it wasn’t checked then the hotel becomes liable for the damage, and their insurance company won’t pay out for the loss.

All venue’s are risking their own liability every time they let someone else you electrical appliances in their venue, so they have a right to insist on seeing your electrical safety certificates and insurance. Without it they have the right to refuse you entry; so don’t take the risk of losing the job.

We recently had a case where a local hotel called us at 7pm on a Saturday night (they are a client); they had a DJ there wanting to set up for a party he was booked for. Despite him confirming in writing at the time of the booking that he had PAT certificates he turned up without them, and when questioned admitted he had never been tested. So they refused him entry.

The venue asked if I would come out to do the job so the DJ could perform – this was 7pm on a Saturday night, and I had plans as I explained to the hotel; so going had to be worth my while. In the end I agreed to go, but would charge the DJ £100 for the call out plus the cost of the job. If only he had got the PAT testing done when he was meant to this would have cost him less than £50.00.

So next time a hotel asks you “have you got PAT Testing Certificates”; be honest and get it done!

We’ve got plenty of experience working with entertainment equipment in theatres, disco companies, singers etc. so whether you just have an Amplifier or a full lighting rig we can help.

So if you want to make sure you won’t miss out on that important gig then complete our quote form or call 01915006562 to make a booking.

How to wire a plug

In the UK we operate on a 230 volts electricity supply which has the power to kill if it’s not used sensibly. Electrical appliances, circuits, leads, plugs etc. are specially designed to reduce the chances of you receiving an electric shock; but only if they are managed correctly.

We don’t all need to know how to manage electrical circuits correctly, that’s why we have electricians but we should understand the basics, like wiring a plug.

Wiring a plug

Everyone should understand the basics of a correctly wired 3-pin plug, and also be able to recognise any errors. If you don’t then this guide is for you. This is an image of an incorrectly wired plug, can you see what’s wrong?

The main issue here is the Live (brown) and the Neutral (Blue) wires are wired incorrectly; they should be opposite to what they are. The other issue with this picture is the cables have been clamped incorrectly – the white outer sheath should come into the plug casing and be firmly fixed in place by the clamp (the black part to the left).

A mains electricity cable contains two or three wires; these are commonly called “twin”, or “twin and earth”; each cable has a copper wire inside because copper is a good conductor of electricity. The outer layer (what we tend to refer to as the “wire” is flexible plastic, as plastic provides good insulation; this is wire the cable is commonly referred to as the “flex”; short for the “flexible cable”. The inner wires of the flex are are colour coded:

• The Blue wire is Neutral
• The Brown wire is Live
• The Green and Yellow striped wire is Earth

The plug itself has 5 main features:

• The plugs case is made of tough plastic or strong rubber as these are both good for insulation and thus protect the user
• The plug has 3 pins, made from brass, which is a good conductor, and strong
• The plug has a fuse between the live terminal and live pin
• If too much current flows from the electricity supply into the plug the fuse breaks the circuit
• The cable is secured in the plug by a cable grip

How to wire a plug

Wiring a plug is an easy process, sometimes fiddly though. You’ll need a screwdriver and perhaps a set of ‘snips’:

Let’s presume for this exercise that the wires have been prepared so we can use this easy is easy to remember saying:

Blue goes left, brown goes right and striped goes to the top

If you see the second letter of each wire relates to where it goes in the plug

bLue – left

bRown – right

sTriped – top

This diagram shows a correctly wired 3-pin plug