Health & Safety Talk (Notes)

Health & Safety at Work Act 1974

H&S shouldn't be seen as a barrier.

Use common sense.

An accident can affect working life. You could throw your back out and not be able to work.

Things to be careful with:
Tie cables down, carrying the PA (legs bent, back straight), overloading electics, stacking smaller on bigger, fatigue while driving

Walk into venue and:
-Find fire exits
-All doors clear (putting you and fans at risk)
-Electrical safety (Shoddy looking plugs) (Check Residual Circuit Breaker)
-Check the carpet, you could fall if it's lumped up
-Check (before you go) how you're going to get gear in

Third Party Insurance
£50 a year. If someone hurts themselves on my gear, the insurance will cover it.

Musicians Union:
-insured for £10m
-Instrument cover
-Tax investigation cover
-£20 a year (for students)


PAT Testing:
Supposed to be PAT checked every year, visual check every 6 months. About 60p an item.

Leave the earth connected in plug ALWAYS. Things could stay live if not earthed.

Always tape the cables down when it's a high traffic area.

If someone's getting electrocuted, they'll grab on to whatever shocking them. First thing to do it remove the current, and then get an insulator and break the link. Call 999 immediately.

If possible, tape cables going around the door of an emergency exit, not in front.

3 plugs:
-Standard household (has up to 13amp fuse)
-Round pin plug (15amp, no fuse)
-European plug (16, 32, 64 3 phase)

On the back of most gear, there's a sign that says the wattage and voltage of the equipment. You can work out how much wattage you're using by just adding the numbers up.

To find out how many amps, divide the wattage by the voltage to give you the amps. If you end up with more than 13 and you only have a 13 amp plug you're screwed. Could end up in a fire.

H&S at work act says there shouldn't be sounds level over 135db for longer than 10 minutes. Basic sound level shouldn't be over 80db for longer than a day.