Public Liability Insurance (PLI)
Although not a licence to operate, it is good practice for DJs to have Public Liability Insurance (PLI) and regularly test their equipment – you’ll often see this referred to as Portable Appliance Testing (PAT).
Public Liability Insurance is there to protect you in the event of an accident or claim against your business. Several DJ associations offer PLI as part of their membership so it’s foolish not to have PLI in my view; as you can get some for under £50 a year it’s a small price to pay to protect you.
Portable Appliance Testing (PAT)
There are a lot of myths around PAT that this has to be done annually. The truth is there is no legal requirement specifying – see the official advice from the Health & Safety Executive:
“The Electricity at Work Regulations 1989 require that any electrical equipment that has the potential to cause injury is maintained in a safe condition. However, the Regulations do not specify what needs to be done, by whom or how frequently (ie they don’t make inspection or testing of electrical appliances a legal requirement, nor do they make it a legal requirement to undertake this annually).”
Source: http://www.hse.gov.uk/electricity/faq-portable-appliance-testing.htm