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.
Orange Oil is great for
Tue, 29 July 2008, 11:17 amOrange Oil is great for cleaning cables of gunk, also the citrus fragrance lingers on for quite some time. It is quite good on the hands keeping them as soft as babies backside. Also Cockroaches & other infestations hate the stuff & end up committing suicide.
http://www.howardproducts.com.au/products/orange_oil.htm
With the bods of the left hand shake, I'm sure you would have Don, taught them to coil & roll cables correctly. Here is a video which explains a couple of similar methods, which all techies should know &/or at least learn to do;-
http://stagecraft.theprices.net/gallery/cablewrap/
This will save collecting a bunch of R'soles in the cable when they throw it out. The vid is from 'stagecraft' a very useful site. Which far better than me attempting to explain how to do it in words or even trying to demonstrate these days. Since the stokes the left hand has a mind of it's own & the hand muscle memory has Alzheimer's.
The lecky tape works well for quick bump outs, but with multiple extension cable runs on a batten or whatever. I use the 'thwaker'. Which is something that evolved & which was used way back in the 50's. I actualy started calling them thwakers, because releasing a tight one, normally ended up thwaking the unweary on the hand.
Grab an old car tyre inner tube, which can be got for nothing from any tyre outlet or garage.
Lay it flat & cut into strips, which become like a rubber band. using a hand paper guilotine can help to get a straight cut thru the folded innertube. However with placing the tube under a a plywood board & using clamps to hold the board, will allow for a straighter cut using a craft or box knife - but be flamin carefull.
Buy a packet of wood dowels they can be around 1 or 2" long it is up to you.
Using one end of the tube rubber ring, turn it into a 'Larks Head Knot [a.k.a 'Girth Knot']. Place the dowel inside the knot & tighten. You have a thwacker. {Nactuallythwackersow if you want to be really professional, pant the dowell black first}.
Wrap the tube ring around the cable or a loom & the batten. place the dowell [toggle] thru the tube loop & you have thwaked the cable & batten. You can pull it as tight as you wish & won't damage the cables & the thwaker is completly reuseable. Without any sticky residue & you can even use them to hang up ciols of extention cables. If the loom is too large for one thwacker attatching it to the batten or whatever, just put the toggle of one thwaker, into another & extend it into a double thwaker.
I always try to keep a couple in the toolbox for any temporary cabling situations.
So welcome to the world of happy thwacking!
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