Baptistry Safety Check

Never, ever, use a wired microphone in a baptismal pool. Even a normally harmless leakage of stray volts into a microphone is lethal when a person is immersed in water.

Make it your church policy that no mains-wired electrical equipment of any sort is to be within arm's reach of a baptistry pool. You should attach a permanent warning display on your PA equipment about this.

Your policy should include:

• No wired microphone (i.e. connected by a lead to an amplifier) to be used in, or within six feet of a pool. Not even by someone outside the pool holding a long boom towards the pool. (It could fall in and could result in death.)

• No other electric audio-visual equipment: camcorders, tape recorders, guitar, etc., connected to mains power even through a low voltage transformer should be used near a pool.

• No light fitting or electric socket should be located within six feet. Power sockets, especially those set into the floor, could easily be splashed and ...