Re: Risk Assessment

[MatthewShiner]

NB: This split off from the discussion in Uploaded forms.  The forms that spawned this thread can be found here.

I have never heard of this before . . . what is this?

[Mac Calder]

In Australia and the UK at least, you are required to assess what dangers may exist in the work place and also provide solutions to make the task more safe. They are generally called Risk Assessments and Job Safety Analysis.

A Risk Assessment is generally considered more global - ie the general risks in the venue like objects suspended over head, objects flying, sharp edges etc.

A JSA is task oriented - ie you are flying a performer in Peter Pan, how are you going to do that safely, what risks exist etc.

The key point with RA's and JSA's is they should be site and time specific. So you don't just have a "single point verticle rigging, person flying" JSA that covers you for all jobs, but instead you have a "Peter Pan at the Royal Albert Hall, between the dates of 12/12/09 - 31/12/09" JSA.

All of this then ties in to SWP's - Safe Work Practice documents... which you can refer to in your JSA's and RA's and are a global document  - things like correct use of ladders - maintain three points of contact, fibre-glass supports if dealing with power etc...

Usually the realm of the Technical Director... but not always. The major problem with the entire thing is that even for someone who is experienced, a full RA of a job can take 10+ hours of work, and then there are the JSA's on top of it, so generally what happens is companies will make a boiler plate RA and tailor it to the job . Mine is a 26 page document with a bunch of yes/no combo boxes which I then attach a number of floor plans and weight loading charts to submit to the OH&S committee at the venue I work. It takes about an hour per RA, and basically it gets filed in a filing cabinet and never seen again.

If there is an injury, that RA combined with our SWP folders will be our primary defence - we need to prove that all crew had easy access to the SWP's and for jobs that have RA's (anything not using just installed infrastructure and a few leads and AV equipment on a desk basically) crew know where to find the RA's and are encouraged to read them. If the RA is not deemed sufficient, then a full OH&S audit is done... After one of those, generally you are walking a little funny and have a list of "concerns" to be rectified immediately... if they let you stay open. That is why boiler plate RA's and internal SWP's are often considered company secrets - as it is known for companies to spend 100's of thousands on developing them.

[dallas10086]

Thanks for the info, I have never heard of this before either.

[ericjames]

Wow!  I have never heard of this, but its interesting that they require that on every show.   As part of our job, we are all safety conscious, but this seems a little ridiculous.   Is this a "lawyer thing" or does it actually have basis in reality?

[Mac Calder]

It has a full backing in law - Just the other day, we had Work Safe do a walk through our venue, and I was doing some cable soldering and was asked to produce a JSA for the task I was undertaking. Work Safe is empowered to close businesses and work sites until they are satisfied that everything is safe - generally they will just provide a list of things that require fixing, and will come back and do a follow up inspection, but it is also not uncommon for them to issue fines and or even post a cease work notice as well as a list of things to fix.

Obviously, repairing a few cables would not be JSA'ed specifically (doing 15 minutes of JSA for 5 minutes of soldering would be ridiculous), I had to pull out our Safe Work Practice document on soldering, and demonstrate that our guidelines had been followed (Fire extinguisher within 5m of the work surface, RCD on the socket etc etc etc)

These are of course RA's for safety sake, as opposed to business risk assessments. The general premise of all Risk Assessment is the same though - for each risk, you assign it a Hazard Level (low danger -> high danger) and a Probability Level (low probability -> high probability) and if you do it numerically, Hazard x Probability gives you a risk rating. Based on the figures you use (your scoring scale etc) you can create thresholds to allow you to decide whether or not you are going to go ahead with it and what you need to add control measures to

[KMC]

Is this a "lawyer thing" or does it actually have basis in reality?

Risk analysis is used in just about every field of industry.  It is used extensively in many disciplines.  It is not used terribly often at the Stage Manager's level in theatre because in all honesty the risks we incur are relatively low compared to something like designing a jet airliner or building a nuclear power plant.

Many business also use this to determine "risk" when deciding undertaking a new venture or project.  i.e. what is the potential negative impact on a business's operation.  Risk analysis is often used in conjunction with cost/benefit analysis to determine if the potential benefit outweighs the potential loss in regards to a specific project/venture.

Insurance companies of all kinds also base their entire actuarial tables around mathematically calculated risk.

So yes - this absolutely has a practical basis in reality, it's just not something we as stage managers encounter terribly often in the theatrical world.  The risk analysis for your show is done at an executive level long before the Stage Manager even sets foot in an audition room!

[Jessie_K]

For my show (circus) we have actually hired two risk assessment analysts.  One for the show as a whole and one to focus specifically on our motorcycle jumping act.  They analyze not only the onstage aspects but training as well.

It is very important when risks are high to do your best to identify and minimize the danger to the performers, crew and audience.  Not just for the obvious reason of minimizing injury, but also to CYA and prove that you did everything you could do to minimize injury.  In a show of this nature, people will get hurt and the company needs to be able to prove that they did as much as possible to prevent the injury, but that it occurred under a condition of acceptable risk.

[Candy0081]

I've dealt with this as a company manager before.  The tour I was working on had, had a lot of workers comp claims so a risk analyst from the insurance company came out to check and see how we were doing things and why there were so many claims.  Turned out we were doing things fine but dancers pull muscles and twist ankles frequently. 

[centaura]

This is an old topic, but I just viewed an IAAM webinar yesterday that said that OSHA (in the states) was going to start focusing on the entertainment industry, and one of the things that they were talking about implementing was Risk Assessments for entertainment venues, etc.  So, while its something that has not really affected SMs, I'm wondering if the SM will be tasked with coming up with the RAs if the new regulations get passed?  Does anyone here work for a venue that has RAs in place?  It sounds like Mac does - who came up with the protocols for your venue?

Any way it goes, it looks like OSHA has its sights set on the entertainment industry now ( the head of OSHA was quoted in May as wanting to focus on entertainment, after some high profile accidents this year in the states), so I think we're all going to start getting very familiar with RAs, inspections, etc.

-Centaura

[Mac Calder]

It is not so much the SM who does it - our venue being a live events venue does not have traditional SM's - who does the RA all depends on the $$$ figure on the job and the complexity. Any job under $5,000 our account managers do themselves (using our 2 page RA). Any job over $5,000 will be done by either a technical director or production assistant.

Being a rather large corporation we have people up in another state who spent ages working on our protocols.

[Jerry Dougherty]

In Washington State, job hazard assessments are required for all workplaces. We do ours by location (you have the option to do it by location or task) for all of the studios, shops and theatres and then do a show specific risk assessment.  The risk assessment for the show covers specific hazards (smoke/haze, traps, rakes, edges, falls, open orchestra pits, strange blackouts, dance injuries, etc.) that we identify and then discuss in an open training session with all of the cast and crew.

And as was observed, after the last concert season, the live entertainment business is going to come under a new regulatory microscope pretty damn quick, so get ready. 

Jerry

[Jessie_K]

I just started a new job in Singapore and the laws here are changing very soon to increase workplace safety.  One of the requirements is Risk Assessment and Safe Working Procedures paperwork.  Each department (including stage management) is creating RA sheets for each activity.  The Production Manager must then review each RA and sign off before submitting to the upper management.

We (SM department) are responsble not only for the RA for our own tracks but for the individual acts and activities of the performers.  We are also responsible for tracking Validation of artists as they train into new positions.