I know it is fashionable to deride the wilder excesses of elf and safety, but ultimately it is about protecting people from injury or death. Those of us with day jobs quite rightly expect our employers to take proper precautions to protect us while we're at work. It is easy to forget when we indulge in our "paying hobby" that we are at work as well, and the venue is a workplace, not just for us but for the venue's regular staff (not to mention the safety of the public).

Managing safety, like managing anything else, is not just about doing what needs to be done but having systems to ensure that you keep doing it and can demonstrate that it has been done. PAT testing is the recognised way of doing this for portable electrical equipment. This means that someone at the venue, who may not have the qualifications to judge electrical safety themselves, can be satisfied that the proper checks have been made.

If you think you can demonstrate this in other ways you may meet the legal requirements but it won't help when you are booked to play in a venue with a health and safety policy which demands a current PAT certificate.

A band is a small business and you have to run it in a professional and business-like manner, just as you'd expect an office or factory to be run. That means not only complying with legislation abut also recognised good practice. PAT testing shouldn't be viewed as an annoying chore but as part of the good management systems required to run a business successfully.