If you're thinking of booking a live band for your wedding then you should ensure that they have Public Liability Insurance (PLI) and PAT Certification. Public Liability Insurance is an insurance policy to cover the band incase a guest of staff member are injured by any of the equipment used for the performance. All bands should be able to run a risk assessment at any venue to ascertain where any potential hazards could be, allowing them to manage these risks.
The PAT certificate is issued by a qualified electrician after testing the bands equipment for any electrical/fire risks. Most venues will not allow a band to perform without these certificates...it could jeopardise their own insurance policy.
Lots of people ask us what PLI and PAT are so we figured we'd write a short blog on the subject whilst collating some of the most common questions surrounding these certificates. Having performed at thousands of weddings we hopefully have the answers!
All professional bands will have PLI & PAT certificates as they are crucial to offering your chosen venue and yourself the peace of mind that the band are fully insured. As we already mentioned, venues won't allow the band on site unless they can provide in date insurance certificates.
Commonly referred to as PLI and sometimes Third Party Insurance is an insurance policy that will cover all musicians in the band in the unlikely event that any damage is caused to the venue or injury is caused to a guest. This insurance is especially important considering that many of the wedding guests will be under the influence of alcohol so are more at risk of having an accident. We've been using certificates for 100's of years and with good reason...the last think you would want is to find your perfect wedding band and discover that they're unable to perform at your chosen venue due to a lack of PLI cover. Here at Detroit Soul Collective we have comprehensive cover that luckily, to this date we've never had to use.
Portable Appliance Tester Certificate is a very important document for venues. This certificate demonstrates that a Wedding Bands electrical equipment is in safe working order. Faulty wiring can cause all sorts of problems at a venue so the annual check of the equipment is essential. All equipment would need to be tested such as amplifiers, lighting, laptops, mixers...anything with a plug on it basically.
Remember that almost all venues will require these certificates so it's important that you ask that the Wedding Band have them early in your enquiries. Professional wedding bands such as Detroit Soul Collective will let you know that they have this cover within your first communications with them.
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