NEN3140

Are you a technician in the audiovisual industry or do you have a company that works with electrical appliances? Then chances are that this standard sounds familiar to you. You probably know why it is necessary. Are you an event organiser or producer? Then you probably have no technical background and are either completely or somewhat unfamiliar with this standard. However, don’t worry, we can help you out!

In this blog we will help you understand more about NEN3140. Why is this important for you as an event organiser? How should the event venue deal with this? What are the requirements for your supplier? What are the criteria the technicians have to stick to? These are all questions which we will answer in this blog.

How should I apply NEN3140 at events?

What is NEN3140?

First of all, what exactly is NEN3140? The NEN3140 standard is an extension of the general requirements in the field of electrical safety as included in the ARBO legislation. In the events industry, this means that the supplier is obliged to comply with the legal health and safety regulations that the ARBO legislation prescribes in order to create an electrically safe situation for employees and visitors or participants. In short, it helps to ensure electrical safety before, during and after the event.

Is NEN3140 mandatory?

The most important question is perhaps ‘is an annual NEN3140 inspection mandatory? We can be brief about that- the answer is yes. The NEN3140 standard is mandatory because of health and safety legislations when working with electro technical risks. That sounds vague, but the standard simply aims to make working with electrical installations and equipment safer and thus reduce the risk of electrocution or short circuits to a minimum.

How do we apply this?

In the events industry, this standard has to be applied by both sides. The event location must ensure a safe electrical installation. This means that the sockets, the fuse box and installed cabling at the location need to be inspected periodically (annually).

As an audio-visual supplier, we must also comply with the NEN3140 standard. Since we connect all kinds of electronic equipment to the sockets at the location, it would be strange if what we connect did not have to be inspected. Therefore, we also have to subject all our electrical equipment to an annual inspection. This includes all audio-visual equipment that is powered by electricity, but of course, also all cabling that is needed in order to do this, such as extension cords and supply cables.

Only a certified inspector may only carry out this annual inspection. Of course, we have several inspectors at our disposal, so we can ensure that the rented equipment is always safe to use and is subject to a new periodic inspection on time. After all, only the best is good enough!

NEN3140 inspection

According to the health and safety legislation in the Netherlands, an employer is obliged to ensure that electrical installations and work equipment are subjected to an annual NEN3140 inspection. This applies not only to us as an audiovisual supplier, but also things such as the drill which your contractor uses, your gardener’s saw and even your hairdresser’s hairdryer!

We can take care of these inspections for you. That way you can do the work you enjoy without any worries, and we can ensure that all of your materials are safe to use. If you want to have between 1 and 24 objects inspected, the inspections cost €10,- per piece. If you need between 25 and 49 items to be inspected, the inspections will be only €9,- a piece. If the number of items you need to be inspected is higher than 50, you will pay just €8 per item.