Risk Analysis and Risk reduction

How 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.