Risk Analysis and Risk reduction

Your on target as usual Don. In nearly every case, someone always seems to say "It almost hyappened to me, while I was here". Unreported near misses are in most situation the cause of the problem not being rectified earlier. I know I'm guilty of this, as most other people are. I was in a theatre the other month which had no step lights on the entrance to the auditorium. Now what i should have done was piont this out to the FOH Manager, but I didn't, I just stopped my self from falling & went out side & had a smoke! There were other safety issue in things I noticed, but opted not to say anthing. Not that I think anything would have been done, as the staff, I believe would have taken it with a pinch of salt anyway - well at least that is my excuse - but it shouldn't be!

Don is correct there are no accidents, only a lack of 'Idiot Proofing'!

Theatre is one of the most potentially dangerous games there is.

 I think it is more luck than good management that there are not more casualties & disasters than there is. I doubt it is down to the patron saint of the arts, looking after us?

I remember being abused for by the Production Manager of a visiting theatre company, at a regional Venue. For having the audacity to ask if he had an Electrical Licence, when he was wiring up a number prac lights on stage. He replied that in Perth we don't need a Licence, so mind your own business. I attempted to advise him I was a Licenced Electrician & he was wiring the lights wrong. He attempted to have me fired, but didn't succeeded . Then the leading actor [A well known performer & personality] received a shock from one of the light fittings on the stage. I placed danger tags on all the fitting he had wired up & he started to remove them. until I advised the management it was in breach of the act to do so. I repaired & made safe all the fittings, then advised the Electrical Inspection Branch of the incident, & filled out the appropriate forms. They eventually caught up to him with the same show in Perth & was fined $2000 in Court, some months later. He was lucky he was not charged with something more serious, such as Edangement or Manslaughter. The venue manager at the time, in my view was a twit. After going off his tree because the situation was raised a week later by the actor concerned, in a popular Perth radio interview. I got it in the neck of course, as being all my fault! So I raised other safety issues, instead of this wally spending the money to fix them, he brought in the local OH&S Inspector to check out the venue. Then screamed when the Inspector placed Health Warning Notices on the front doors & would not remove them, until all of the 65 breaches found, were rectified within 7 days.

To my knowledge only 23 were ever fixed by the City Council, who owned the venue, I think most of the other safety problems are still there. As it became very political in the end, it was all swept under the carpet. But I'm sure it will bight them in the 'R Send' eventually, if they have not sorted the safety situation out! 

As Neville and Joe have eloquently pointed out, people (particularly those "in charge") have a ridiculous habit of closing the gate AFTER the horse has bolted. It seems that people are unable to see a potential hazard and refuse to take any action to prevent things going wrong until they actually do. As Don has stated "anything that goes wrong is as a direct result of someone being incompetent or using unsafe work practices.!"

     I sometimes wonder if this "Hazard blindness" is an extension of the popular premise  that "it will never happen to me"? Or even worse... the great Australian "She'll be right, mate" attitude. Perhaps we all have been (since our earliest colonial heritage days) making do with dodgy repairs and home fixes for so long that it is now considered the norm to be able to get by without having to do it correctly? Maybe that is why people object so strongly to changing when the SAFE way of doing things is pointed out to them.

 As a personal for instance: My "9-to-5er" involves a fair amount of above ground work (5 to 12 metres up) and all too often I catch my crew  "not having the time" to buckle into a rigging harness or if they do wear it, they don't hook up to the safety bars because "the lines get in the way". One that I did not catch out a few months ago is still in hospital in traction with a broken spine from literally stepping off the work platform while 10 mtrs up! His reasoning for the "accident"? "I felt really safe and comfortable up there, I forgot where I was."

Incidently, he is NOT covered by workers comp because the safety gear was there, he didn't use it  - and he had not closed the barrier gates behind him (EDIT: He had actually jammed the self closing/latching gate open!) because "he was coming straight down again"...... He certainly did!

Moral: If the safety gear is there USE IT!

If it isn't - refuse to do the job until it is!
 

It happens all too often Nev!

I don't think I count the amount of times a warm prop or twirlie, has ended up in the pit, because of neglect & the want of a strip of even white gaffer tape on the edge of the apron. Or how often a near miss fails to be reported, actioned & rectified. Normally any complaint is wiped over & easily forgotten about. The onus is not only on SM but everyone concerned, as each individual has a duty of care & is responsible. I wonder how many theatre groups actually have an incident register?

Primarily on stage it falls within the domain of the SM & similarly the FOH Manager. It also follows when it concerns a punter, even if nothing comes of it, it is a valuable record with Insurance claims & to protect the interest of all concerned.

There are oodles of cheap products available that can be used as safety messures;-http://glowinc.com/

I know in the UK before every production & event. They go to the lengths of filling out & filling a Risk Assessment Form, which becomes archived with the production & at the theatre/venue, for future reference.

Also I doubt if most theatre/venues have even taken the trouble to have Emergency procedures posted or even practised as part of normal procedure. Even what to do if there is an incident? Do the Emergency & Exit lights work in a power failure &/or Fire? All of these situations are easy to simulate & should be practised regularly.

Instead of the usual attitude of if it did happen! Just ensure the bodies are put out side the door or gate. Which does save everyone a heap of paper work!

It is just if not more important to have these in practises in place, when renting a venue, as it is if the group have their own theatre.

Long gone are the days of having to have a designated Fire & Emergency Officer in the venue at all relevant times, during a show or rehearsal. May be it needs to be brought back or at least ensure the SM or FOH Manger are versed & have a planned out procedure to deal with any untoward situation.

There again why bother as it hasn't happened in forty five years, so why do we need to worry?

Which always makes for an interesting, but not unique defence at a Coronal Inquest.

 Blimey mate! I think I was about 13, the last time  I was described as being eloquent? When I was dressed up as a cop in a fairy balet Toto [actualy more of three three! (risk management in it's self?)], in the "Lovely wonderful Spring' number, in a Gang show at the Capitol theatre in Perth in the 60's. {we even made a vinyl record of the song - but no pictures fortunately for me!]

A good point Jeff!

I think you could count on one hand the number of venues, who actually have a current up to date log book. This includes pro & community theatre, as well as Local City Council Halls & whatever.

This is something I covered in a meeting with Alan Morris, prior to him going on holidays. As a suggestion to possibly have these log books & procedures printed up & available thru Aunty ITA?

I have yet to find out if he is back? So I can follow up on this & make copies of Log Books available for him to view.

'BLOFLI' [Back Line Out, Front Line In]

For those who use Fly Counterweight systems, this 'Halls Stage' article would help, working out risk factors;-

http://www.hallstage.com/uploads/documents/Counterweight%20Rigging%20Document.pdf

Gel frames are something normally forgotten about, besides the safety chains/cables. As they are steel frames they do make a deadly missile. Especially if they are ill fitting &/or held on with gaffer tape. I tend to despair when I'm a punter & look up. To see gel fluttering down, as everyone knows, gel on the deck, makes ones foot slide very easily. I have actually witnessed more occasions of gel frames jumping out & committing suicide, than lamps dropping in to visit invited.

Now I come to think of it, this is probably why a lot of comeatres use no gel, because they have misplaced the frames? Thus they can't be bothered beyond having open white lighting. when all they have to do is use an easily made up cable lanyard, clipped onto the frame & lamp. Or/& ensure the frame stays with the lamp & clip captivated in the slide track grooves. 

 Heres a thing next time your a punter take a look up at the the lighting over head, I bet you won't see a lot of safety chains utilised, although sometimes they may be obscure from view. In a lot of cases these days, you won't only view the FOH lighting bars, but also the lighting battens on stage, as there seems to be a trend toward not using Boarder drops anymore. This must be to give the punters extra value. By them viewing all the patch cable plug ups, bits of tape rubbish & not forgetting all the good old  cobwebs on the fixtures 'n fittings.

Which all adds to the punters reassurance of regular maintenance & risk assessment being carried out?

Multi purpose venues are always a problem. But I agree with your Lecturer, I can't understand how any one can work effectively, in crap & mess of tangled rubbish. In nearly all instances you try to make it easy on yourself & others, by taking the time to clean it up before you start. Which allows you to work logical & save time over all. Simple things like run an extension cable from the lamp to the patch point  outlet, rather than the other way around. So your not left with a heap of extension cord at the lamp. Of course having enough patch battens in the right places, also helps.

To me if you have the space to hang a lighting batten, it does not take that much more effort to also hang boarders. 

I was at a venue a few weeks ago, just as a tourist. It was not that it was unsafe, but it drew attention to the way it had been rigged up. Now this was a well known & used theatre venue, where for the sake of a few hours spent on each production, could make it so much easier for all the reusable resources, to work shows - in turn possibly hanging on to more of those, prepared to do it! I know invariably there is not enough time to do things & as usual everything technical is left as a quick gaff job, with little or none of the 5 P's employed - Just a get the show on the boards attitude, of "we will worry about all that  later"! Which only succeeds in making it more difficult the next time, to the point there are none of the reusable resources left, who are prepared or want to do it in the dark anymore!

No wonder spell check didn't pick it up!

but could this be a techie slip on my part? A 'Boarder' being another name for a warm prop, luvvie or twirlie?

I worked at the Maj Melbourne a few years ago & it was an eye opener.

Their electrics & fly system was something that came out of the Ark! In fact the counterweight system reminded me of the one the Perth Maj  threw out back in the 60's. But no one seemed to worry or care!

The house sparky, at least he said he was. Started a fire with one of his dodgy electrical modifications, during the tech rehearsal. Which worked that well, it burnt a costume in the dressing room. The management were more upset because the rehearsal was stopped & the fire Brigade was called out. Not about the fact they had no smoke detectors. But instead blamed the performer for the fire & the fact they ended with about a $2000 Fire brigade call out fee. Funnily enough the show was "Smokey Joe's Café".

Orange 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!

I have used these log books for years, the intention was to produce fully bound hard cover. As discussed with Alan, using his printing trade services. To produce a fully hardcover drawn, flexi bound or similar log book. To include a compendium format. To cover tagging, fire retardant items & even risk assessments all in the one bound book. Which would require a book for each year only.  As the SAA log book is copyright, Aunty could have it's own theatre orientated & event specific log book. If we can maybe add an incident reporting log provision of sorts? However this might be whistling against the wind to umbrella it all in one log book?

Camel with no humps! [Or at a pinch a Camelus Dromedarius.]

I remember attending one of these SAA focus groups in Sydney, a very long time ago, which was an eye opener. However they became easily bogged down in committee politics & more concerned with individual & associations commercial interests. My only commercial interest was paying out for the hotel & the cost of travelling to the East all the time. However they are a great Institution & have good record of endeavours. these days it much easer with the net & video conferencing. But it still primarily based over there.

We have the makings of a group, who are simmering on the back hob, at present. who being theatre ARTificers, in various disciplines. Would I'm sure be happy to input into a community theatre sgroup, you have suggested.

Aunty of course would be the umbrella & vanguard of this unitive. Along with our member theatre groups & others being the beneficiaries, not only here, but even beyond the rabbit proof fence.

It was a fair while ago Sean, I didn't realise it has been refurbished, not before time! The Ol' girl, was getting to be very tired. At the time I remember thinking the place had not anything done to it, since the days that the 'old Firm' of JCW owned it.

    Pardon me for raining on various parades, but "Dear Old Aunty ITA" is very limited as far as her committee goes and definitely has very limited spare resources at her disposal (if any). Whilst I can fully appreciate the need for various log books, manuals, text references and other DHS manuscripts, I am also very aware that the ITA do not have the funds to cover the expenditure of purchasing these and supplying them to the our member clubs. Obviously, the outlay would be horrendous, especially with the rules changing all the time and the reference manuals constantly needing to be upgraded.

    This is why it has always been left to the individual clubs to monitor their own Safety Awareness Systems and basically control their own destinies.

   Perhaps we could approach either DOHSWA or the Arts wing of the State Government and request that they provide X amount of copies of (for instance) the AS-3000 Electricians"rule book" gratis to be supplied to the TAP group and the various liscenced Elec-Tech's around the traps as part of the Governments so called "Art's Initiative"?

    Mind you... I don't fancy our chances....

 With the compendium log book, what I suggest to Alan Morris, while having a coffee, was in utilising his empirical printing skills & trade services. Aunty could produced a single all encompassing log book, that could be purchased by member theatre groups, for a reasonable amount. However with some form of sponsorship &/or underwriting, this theatre orientated log book could become available to all & even nationally.

I believe we collectively have enough know how to bring this about.  

 Not only overseas Na!

I'm sure we all have stories of dodgy techies, doing electrical work here as well.

The ones that I get really worried about, is American techies, who come over here with shows.

I remember well over 20 years ago, when I was a manager of an Electrical Contracting Company. Being invited to the Sheraton for a seminar, thru the Contractors Association & the then SEC.

The main discussion was about proposed changes to the WA Electrical Act. The gist of it was to allow owner builders, to wire up their own homes. Also that Electricians who own up to performing any dodgy work or practise, would be immune from prosecution. Along with a host of other changes, I can't remember now.

These changes apparently took over 5 years to formulate, by Government legal eagles. Which possibly justified their existence or was a ploy by the department to give credence for future budget increases.

After the sparkies dutifully devoured the 5 Star lunch & lubricated themselves sufficiently. All became fired up during the afternoon Q&A session. Which was deemed to be an out of order, so the conveners virtually packed up their new rules & evaporated. The afternoon session was reinstated & carried on in the Lounge Bar. Eventually everyone left none the wiser for the  venture, but some what merrier. The upshot was the Department  latter advised, couched in the usual drivel, that they would have to think it all out again?  "In order to develop new amendments in the fullness of time!" 

Could this be what they eventually came up with -  But I could be wrong?