Rigging Safety In The Entertainment Industry

The film riggers or event riggers need to be concerned about the safety of rigging, notably with the wire works. Here is some of the information that one must go through while speaking about rigging safety in the entertainment industry.

What can go wrong during entertainment rigging?

Many things can go wrong during entertainment rigging. Some of these are:

• Fall from heights: One should always perform the rigging activities by maintaining a proper height. Furthermore, possibly on any open structure or incomplete structure, one should follow the fall protection options.

• Falling equipment: The production equipment needs to be rigged or lifted overhead. If not done correctly, then the anchor points would fail under load.

• Toppling or collapsing of structures: If the structural components of a particular structure get overloaded, they tend to become faulty or damaged. For example, it can result in inadequate bracing.

• Trauma or suspensions syncope: There may be such a life-threatening condition in which the rescue team or the arrangement made for the rescue fails to attend quickly. It can leave the person in trauma while he is still suspended in the harness.

• Electrocution: One can lift the production equipment into its place with the help of any faulty electrical hoists, control units, and connectors. However, the moving equipment might damage the electrical equipment. In addition, it can result in electrocution.

 Legal requirements

The Health and Safety at Work Act of 1974 states that there are certain duties that one must follow while rigging in the entertainment industry. These duties are:

• Provision and use of work equipment regs 1998: It will ensure if the equipment is safe and suitable for use or not. They decide whether the equipment comes with a CE mark or not.

• Lifting operation and lifting equipment regs 1998: The lifting equipment should have adequate stability and strength. In addition, one must have proper organization and planning to use the equipment. However, the equipment should be checked by the concerned and competent riggers for at least 12 months.

• Supplier of machinery regs 2008: The applicable machinery must have excellent strength to carry forward with the operation safely and efficiently.

• Construction regs 2015: It places the duties of all the key roles to make sure that the different activities are well organized and properly planned. It requires a construction phase plan to allocate different responsibilities and roles while describing the methodology of work.

• Work at height regs 2005: All the work that involves height requires proper planning and organization. They should be carried out by competent persons using accurate means of access. They should also have proper fall prevention measures and a suitable rescue plan.

• Electricity at work Riggs 1989: The design for all the electrical equipment should prevent any danger.

Measures that need to be taken

• Appointing competent and suitable rigors

It becomes a big question of who would appoint the riggers. Sometimes the studios or larger venues have their in-house triggers. They are quite competent as they would know every corner of the venue inside out. They would also have all the necessary rigging equipment that the venue demands. However, if you are blindly relying on them, make sure that you provide them with your designers and preferences of the kind of rigging.

In the case of an outside venue, you need to appoint freelance rigors. Appoint them only if they are well trained and properly insured.

• Exchanging or communicating the information for rigging safety

Once you appoint your rigging supervisor, they should comment on the production schedules and plans. Moreover, the design plans significantly show the position of the items that one requires to lift. For example, it would include the total information of orientation, means of attachment, and weight. Also, the rigging supervisor showed comments on the risk assessment methods for any safety risks that fall under their control.

• Managing the job of rigging

Managing the job of a rigger is not an easy task. A rigging supervisor will have to control the rigging job perfectly and be responsible for it. But there are certain points that one should follow to maintain the safety standards of the production.

1. Every site should have a nominated rigging supervisor. Places where there is more than one rigging work going on, each place should have one person appointed who would take the overall production and rigging operations.
2. The rigging supervisor must approve all the plot and plans and any subsequent alterations. The rigging supervisor should provide the load calculation of the total job. It would demonstrate the safety measure applied to the lifting components and the supporting structures, including trussing, hoists, or slings.
3. All work at height must be organized and adequately planned. To make sure that the person working at the height stays protected from any injury. They should also have rescue available at any point in time.

In case of lifting operations

1. The rigging supervisor needs to be present during the total operation of the lifting.
2. Every electrically driven chain hoist needs to be controlled by switches. They would require continuous pressure to run and operate.

In the case of lifting equipment

1. All the lifting accessories and equipment should contain the mark of CE by their manufacturer.
2. They should undergo a thorough examination by any competent person after every six months.

Conclusion

Before one starts the job of rigging, one must abide by the safety measures. Unfortunately, particularly in the entertainment industry, one tends to overlook and neglect the importance of safe rigging. This article will help you understand how safe rigging is beneficial for the riggers and the people around them.