PAT testing for bands: what venues actually ask for, and how to keep the records

If you play weddings and corporate events in the UK, sooner or later a venue manager or an agency will ask the question: is your equipment PAT tested? More and more of them will not take "yes" for an answer. They want to see the records, and they want them before the date, not on the night.

This is a guide to what that actually means for a band, what the people asking are looking for, and how to keep the paperwork in a state where the answer is always a two-minute job rather than a scramble.

What PAT is, and what it is not

PAT stands for portable appliance testing. It is the routine inspection and testing of electrical equipment that plugs in: your PA, your lighting rig, backline amps, keyboard power supplies, extension leads, the lot.

Two things worth knowing before anything else:

• There is no law that says "you must PAT test every year". The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require electrical equipment used at work to be maintained so that it is safe. How you do that is up to you. Testing is the accepted way of proving it, and the IET Code of Practice sets out how.
• "PAT tested" is shorthand for a record. The sticker on the plug means nothing on its own. What matters is the record behind it: what was tested, when, by whom, and whether it passed. That record is what a venue is really asking for.

So the question is not "have you paid someone to put stickers on" but "can you show that every piece of kit you bring in has been looked at, and when it is next due".

What venues and agencies ask for

In practice, the request comes in three shapes.

A tick box on a booking form. Many venues include "all electrical equipment is PAT tested" in their supplier terms. Signing the contract is your declaration. If something goes wrong, they will want to see that you meant it.

A certificate before the date. The bigger wedding venues and most corporate event companies ask for a copy of the PAT certificate along with your public liability insurance, usually a few weeks before the event. Some will not release the final details of the day until they have both.

Agency compliance. The larger UK function-band agencies require current PAT records and PLI before they will put an act on their books, and they chase for renewals. If your certificate lapses, you can find yourself quietly dropped from the shortlist for enquiries.

What they want to see is not complicated. A PAT certificate, or register, should show:

• who did the testing, and the date;
• each appliance, identified so it can be matched to the physical item (a number on a label is the usual way);
• the result for each item, pass or fail;
• when the next test is due.

A one-line "all equipment tested, dated, signed" letter is better than nothing, but a proper per-item register is what the careful venues expect, and it is the only version that helps you when a single item fails.

How often gear should be retested

There is no fixed legal interval. The IET's guidance is risk-based: how the equipment is used, how often it is moved, and where. Band gear scores badly on all three. It gets carried, dropped, unplugged in the dark, rained on outside marquees and plugged into whatever socket the venue has. For that reason most testers, and most venues, work on twelve months for a gigging band's kit, with a visual check before every use.

Some items deserve a closer look more often than that:

• extension leads and IEC power cables, which fail more than anything else;
• anything that has been dropped, or has a plug that has been stood on;
• gear that has been hired out or lent to a dep for a stretch.

The visual check is not a formality. A cracked plug, a cable with the outer sheath split, a scorched socket on a power strip — these are exactly the things a formal test six months ago will not tell you about.

Getting the testing done

You have two honest options.

Pay a tester. Mobile PAT testers will come to a rehearsal room or a lock-up and work through a rig in an hour or two. Prices vary by region and by the number of items; expect a small call-out plus a per-item rate, with a discount once you are past a few dozen items. Ask for the register as a spreadsheet or PDF, not just the stickers.

Do it yourself. A competent person can carry out PAT testing with a proper tester and some training. For a band this is usually the one member who already looks after the PA. The equipment costs a few hundred pounds, and a one-day course covers what you need. The advantage is that you can test a new purchase, or a cable you are not sure about, the week you get it rather than waiting for the annual visit. The disadvantage is that you now own the paperwork, and it is the paperwork that most bands fall down on.

Either way, keep the register somewhere everyone in the band can find it, because the person who gets the email from the venue is rarely the person who has the certificate.

Keeping the records so the question is never a scramble

This is the part nobody talks about, and it is the part that causes the trouble. The test is done once a year. The requests come all year round, from different people, to different members of the band, usually while somebody is at work.

A good register has one line per item and answers four questions at a glance: what is it, what is its number, when was it last tested, when is it next due. Keep it as a living list, not a photo of a certificate:

• number every item with a durable label, and use the same number in the register;
• record the test date and the due date, not just "tested";
• note who owns each piece, because band gear is usually a mix of one person's PA and everyone's own amps;
• when something fails, mark it, take it out of the rig, and record what happened to it;
• when you buy something new, add it straight away, untested, so it is on the list to be done.

Then put a reminder against the earliest due date. Most lapses are not carelessness; they are a certificate that quietly expired in February while the band was busy.

We have made that register, so you do not have to. It has the columns above already in it: an Excel file with thirty numbered rows, two example lines and the rules on a second sheet, and the same thing as a printable A4 sheet for the lock-up wall. Free, nothing to fill in first, no sign-up. Download the register (Excel or PDF).

If you would rather not build that in a spreadsheet, this is what the gear section in Event Band Manager does: every piece of kit has an owner and a number, PAT and other deadlines have their own categories with due dates, the certificate files live against the check that produced them, and the band gets a warning before anything runs out. But the spreadsheet version works too. The point is to have the register, keep it current, and know where it is.

A short checklist

Before the next enquiry asks, make sure you can say yes to all of these:

1. Every plug-in item in the rig has a number on it.
2. There is a register listing every number, its last test and its next due date.
3. The register says who tested it.
4. Failed or retired items are marked as such, not deleted.
5. Somebody has a reminder for the earliest due date.
6. The certificate and the PLI document are both saved where any member can send them.

Do that once and "is your equipment PAT tested?" stops being a question you dread.

The quickest way to get to that point is to start from a register that already has the right columns in it. Ours is free, in Excel and as a printable sheet, with the eight rules on it: download the register (Excel or PDF).