Cougar Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I spoke to one of the organisers of the event Tom R is talking about last year and we raised a number of points with them but they did confirm (in the same sentence as complaining that the PA was too loud) that it was indeed their evacuation announcement system. Which is all well and good except I was only 15 or 20 meters away from the PA and it was both very quiet and completely unintelligible. But given they allowed half the lighting towers to go out because they did not lock the starter keys to the towers and they were stolen during the event as well as openly admitting on their website an attendance figure more than 5000 over their licensed number. I am not sure this was the most important of their worries. (having said all that a lot of the vast list of complaints appeared to have been improved on although were still not even close to resolving all the issues that did exist). (just to clarify for those who may know of the event I was talking about I only KNOW about last years event and opinions on this years are only what I saw not anything related to any confirm-able facts). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agermich Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 The chunk of text below is something thats quoted in our FOH Procedures pack although I don't really know exactly where they got it from. Basically if theres a power cut the FOH assistant goes to each of the spaces to make an announcement to the audiences to stay put while at the same time the duty technician tries to identify whether its a local fault. If the power can't be restored its up to the Duty Manager and Duty Technician to evacuate the building, because a power cut isn't “strictly” an emergency evacuation it wouldn't be done in a hurry (to prevent accidents). None of our sound systems have UPS backup but then all the spaces are fairly small so there isn't a need for amplified announcements. From Rules of Management Part 111, 56c and 56d `Should the normal lighting fail and the escape lighting system have a 1 hour capacity the public shall leave the premises within 30 minutes unless within that time the normal lighting has been restored and the batteries are being re-charged. If the emergency lighting has a three hour capacity the public shall leave the premises within one hour unless within that time the normal lighting has been restored and the batteries are being re-charged. If the patrons have left the premises they shall not be readmitted until normal lighting has been restored and the battery or batteries fully recharged.` Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbuckley Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 A good few years ago I was (I think - its a while ago!) sound-op'ing a show at the the studio thing attached to the Hawth in Crawley. Well, I rolled up only to discover it was all rather dark. What power there was came from a small diesel genset, prolly about 10KVA. The resident crew (and very helpful chaps they were too) rigged a shedload of C17 cables normally used for exhibition work together, getting power from the genset to a couple of hastily rigged parcans pointing at the stage area. The first act was thus minus controlled lighting and sound effects. By intermission the juice was back on and normality restored. The show, however, did go on... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
benweblight Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 I just thought of something, would the backup PA have to go through the hearing aid loop system? If so that'd need to ready aswell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew C Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 The chunk of text below is something thats quoted in our FOH Procedures pack although I don't really know exactly where they got it from. From Rules of Management Part 111, 56c and 56dThe old theatre licence that I worked to had a similar clause. I have in the past run the end of a show on 2 phases, without house lights for 1/2 an hour. At the end the house manager stood up, apologised, and showed the audience the way out under EM lights and what FoH wash we still had on the tabs. No problems and happy punters. From memory, we could continue for 1 hour without house lights, and 1/2 hour without EM lights. (but not both out at the same time!) It pays to let the audience know what is going on, they will accept all sorts of "difficulties" if they are well informed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WJProctor Posted November 6, 2006 Share Posted November 6, 2006 What you really need is a couple of large generators that are designed to kick in when theres a power cut. We had them where I used to work. It was admit idly a hospital but they were impressive. Within 2 seconds of power failure they would be running at full capacity, and have phased them selves in. We had 3, two were challenger tank engines, and the third well it was massive, and ran a good half of the hospital. We were amazed to find out that Nigel Mansell apparently had 2 of these engines in his powerboat..... Nice if you can. On an Amdram scale I would just try to make sure you use battery powered headsets so you can stay in touch, or use them as a backup, and have torches and high vis jackets at the read. Regards James Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ekij Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 Within 2 seconds of power failure [the Gensets] would be running at full capacity, and have phased them selves in.This is something of an exaggeration.10 Seconds is an aggressive target for a genset to get cranked, up to speed, synchronised and up to full load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gareth Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 Absolutely - Ekij is right, there's no way that a big set like your "Challenger tank engine" can sense the absence of incoming mains, start up, sync with a friend, and bring itself online within the space of two seconds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 What you really need is a couple of large generators that are designed to kick in when theres a power cut. No. What you really need is to decide whether your application warrants having a couple of large generators that... etc etc:P If you're powering a hospital, it's justified. If it's powering a "one-man-band" at the local country and western night, then having a standby generator in case of a power cut is hardly justifiable. Indeed, in this scenario, a power cut may be desirable.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac.calder Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 One item I usually have available (for emergency situations) is an air horn. Especially when working with large groups of children - who ALWAYS start talking when a black out occurs. I bought one when I toured with a small show that visited schools and "regional centers" all around country Victoria - power out there was often as reliable as a politician (that is to say, not at all), and after the first black out, I found that there was no way I could be louder than 400 students, muttering to each other. Push down on an air horn for a second, and everyone shuts up. Our evacuation procedures during that tour were something like: Make announcement for all students and teachers to remain seatedAfter 5 minutes, if the power was still out, the crew (armed with minimags) would take down the blackout curtainsCall all teachers to the "Booth" (ie the table at the back of the hall/room/theatre/gym)Instruct them to evacuate - taking classes closest to the door firstTell everyone to remain seated until told to stand by a teacher We had minimal PA and lighting, however we did have 3 projectors, the entire show fit in the back of a three tonne truck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itinerant baker Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 I was at a public fireworks event last night and... .....The DJ/PA power cut out just as he was about to countdown for the launch! You know something's wrong when the DJ shuts the #### up!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimWebber Posted November 7, 2006 Share Posted November 7, 2006 Last summer, at an outdoor Shakespere performance, during the day, a bl+*dy big storm took out one phase of the local transformer, which actually supplied the whole village. When I (LX and power) turned up that evening, to find a phase missing, I hastily carried out a few calculations, and re-patched as much lighting as I could, as well as the site electrics - Portacabins, site lighting etc. with strict instructions to the bar staff as to what they could and couldn't switch on... I then started the show with the foreboding of what was to come next... Just as darkness fell, the electricity board turned up to repair the transformer to do this, they had to isolate the whole supply... After quick arrangements with the stage manager, we collected every cast and crew member's car we could get hold of, and arranged them round the stage. We ran the end of the second half under the light of car headlamps... The actors were bloomin marvelous, carrying on like true professionals and the audience loved the idea, and were very appreciative... Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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