Risk Analysis and Risk reduction
Thu, 24 July 2008, 10:10 amDon Allen42 posts in thread
Risk Analysis and Risk reduction
Thu, 24 July 2008, 10:10 amHow many risks are you aware of when working in a theatre or even being in a theatre onstage or backstage.
Electrocution
Cuts
Broken Bones
Eye damage
Hearing damage
Community theatres have a responsability under the WA Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 and WA OSH Regulations 1996 to provide a safe working environment. There may also be additional responsabilities imposed by local councils.
As an individual you have the same responsabilities.
These following links will provide usefull and productive information:
Why productive ? if you maintain your venue and its equipment to a safe standard, you greatly reduce the setup times for shows and remove a lot of the glitches that may affect a performance.
I did not use the work "accident" as I do not beleieve there is such a thing as an accident, anything that goes wrong is as a direct result of someone being incompetent or using unsafe work practices.!
WA Occupational Safety and Health Act 1984 http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/pco/prod/FileStore.nsf/Documents/MRDocument:7379P/$FILE/OccupSftyAndHealthAct1984_05-g0-00.pdf?OpenElement
WA OSH Regulations 1996 http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/pco/prod/FileStore.nsf/Documents/MRDocument:7552P/$FILE/OccupSftyAndHealthRegs1996_06-b0-00.pdf?OpenElement
Risk Assessment (UK) http://www.hse.gov.uk/risk/fivesteps.htm
The backsateg Information Guide - Bath University http://people.bath.ac.uk/su2bc/infoguides/index.shtml
ABTT Theatre Essentials http://www.abtt.org.uk/PDFs/Theatre_Essentials.pdf
Guidelines on the Application of the Health (Public Buildings) Regulations 1992 http://www.population.health.wa.gov.au/environmental/resources/Public%20Buildings%20Guidelines%20Final.pdf
Safety Guidelines For The Entertainment Industry (Australian) http://www.entservices.com.au/pdfs/theatrereqs/AustnEntertainmentIndustrySafetyGuidelines.pdf
In the absence of any formal training for amateur theatre technicians, then self education is the way to go.
I suggest you download any of these documents that allow you to, as it is an excellent start to a library and sometimes web resources tend to dissappear.
I always notify actors who walk under ladders when someone is working above them, that it would be a pity to waste all of their rehearsal time, only to miss out on performing because they have been injured during a tech rehearsal, so keep clear and be aware of their surroundings.
Dressing Lighting Bars
Mon, 28 July 2008, 10:54 pmI do about 20 shows a year of various length runs and use about half a roll of gaffa tape in a year ! as I take the time to run cables, place set pieces etc and use carpet at times to remove trip hazards so I don't have to "gaffa things down" There are some things lke dance tarquets that have to be taped down with gaffa tape for the dancers safety but for most of my lead dressing I use insulation tape. It is not up there long enought to go sticky and I use "one and a half wraps" so the cable can be pulled of the bar for bumpout. The tape on top of the lead is only one thickness, i.e. it is the half part of the wrap. I would use twenty to thirty rolls of black insulation tape. White Nitto brand insulation tape is used for desk labelling.
Providing you hang the lights first, then fit leads and dress, you are not causing a problem by taping the leads to the bar at regular intervals. As Gaffa says, start at the light and have the excess cable at the socket away from the hot bits.
If you do your paperwork before you start rigging, you will have a range of leads so there is not too much excess to dress. After you have done a few shows you do this in your head, thinking ahead. It is sometimes usefull to have .25 metre, .5 metre, .75 metre and 1 metre leads for this purpose.
In professional shows in large venues they will not be so selective as they need to use standard lengths in multiples of 1 metre. (e.g. 1,2,3,5,10,15,20)
I am spending all Thursday night at the Fly, cleaning up their cabling, making it more flexible as in having spare outlets in the rig and training some Scouts for a show they are doing later on in the year. Maintenance is good for any venue as it saves time during show setups when everyone wants the stage.
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