Court News - Unusual Rigging

[Guest lightnix]

I'm not sure if this should be in the Safety Forum, but here goes anyway...

 

The week before last, on March 19th, there was a story broadcast hourly on BBC London Live (formerly GLR) about a rigger who received a £2.1 million payout from Unusual Rigging, following an accident in September 2000.

 

Click here to read the story on the BBC News website.

 

"Strangely" enough there seems to have been no mention of this in the trade press and few, if any crew seem to be aware of it. Is the story being covered up ?

 

EDIT / UPDATE

For (a little) more info check out this story on the PLASA website. Seems the guy was an employee after all. I am also reliably informed that the story will feature in next months L&SI.

 

FURTHER EDIT / UPDATE 23/04/03

The payout was actually made by Unusual's insurers, not the company itself.

[Guest chancer]

lightnix. It should definetely be in the safety forum mate. Most people avoid these discussions. There is no 'they' witholding information by the way. All the facts about what happened can be accessed through HSE and local councils. There have been TWO deaths recently at EC and what most people fail to realise, that regardless of retribution passed onto venues/companies/individuals by the courts, what we can all realise is, is that accepted industry standards failed. The courts won't put these right, thats down to companies and freelancers setting good examples. Thats the next challenge for us all. I mean how many people realise that when they climb above 2m without PPE they run the risk of 6 months prison or a £50,000 fine. The apathy amongst the whole industry about these incidents is frightning and the reactions purely knee jerk. Mind you LSI printed something about wearing the correct lanyard! Personally I think if you need to ask or read it in a magazine chances are you should keep both feet firmly on the ground. It stated nothing about why the individual was there in the first place? Why they were doing the job the in the way that they were? Was the guy experineced? Was the rest of the crew? How would others approach the job? Why wasn't he clipped off twice (make note of that LSI)?

I read a little article on this forum by a bloke called ben who was curious about whether he was competent in writing risk assesmnets. I hope he reads your artcile too lightnix and I hope he realises why these two issues aren't a million miles apart. And why what you mentioned should be in the forum. Ben needs to know if he f***s up his risk assesment (which ben, I do not think you should be doing)that ne needs to have a very good lawyer. Dave fell 12ft. Who would have thought that was a long way, and how many of you reading this think your arse is covered?

[themadhippy]

I mean how many people realise that when they climb above 2m without PPE they run the risk of 6 months prison or a £50,000 fine.  

can you point me in the direction of this info as im having major proplems with our managment about this.

[Rob]

This topic has been moved from the "Staging & Rigging" forum.

[robloxley]

This seems to be the most relevant current guidance:

 

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/etis6.htm

Working at heights in the broadcasting and entertainment industries

 

Which states:

1 Falls

 

Precautions must be taken where a person can fall a distance of more than 2m. If there is an increased risk of injury when falling a distance of less than 2m, eg working near a traffic route or above a dangerous surface, then suitable precautions will also be required.

 

There are four ways of preventing falls of people:

 

edge protection, eg toe boards, guard rails;

safety harnesses;

maintaining a safe distance from an edge;

safety nets.

 

These need to be considered in the order listed above. Further information on edge protection and safety harnesses can be found in Health and safety in construction HSG150 and Health and safety in roof work HSG33.

 

Note also that it says:

 

This leaflet contains notes on good practice which are not compulsory but which you may find helpful in considering what you need to do.

 

i.e. as ever risk assesment is what you need to be doing.

 

Be aware also that the HSE is currently in the process of producing a new guidance on Work at Height.

[themadhippy]

thanks rob,I already have a copy of that,unfortunatley as you say its olny a guidline,I was hoping to find some more ammo to throw at our managment, who whilst insist we comply with h+s, are still trying to get out of installing a safe meens of accsessing our foh lighting posistions

[Dave]

We might be able to help more if you could tell us a bit about your particular situation. How do you currently get to the lanterns? Why do you think it is unsafe? (if that's not obvious!). How could it be improved?

[owen_mcauley]

Don't think that only a guideline is a suitable defence,

 

it is my understanding, that the guidelines are set out in order for us all to follow and work within the regulations, they are easier to interpret and understand.

Subsequently, following guidelines is the best way of putting into place, safe systems of work and all the rest.

 

Maybe worth bouncing that one off the management!

 

Owen

[themadhippy]

already posted the details a month or so ago( http://www.blue-room.org.uk/index.php?act=ST&f=4&t=202 )

when I pointed out neither myself nor my assistant was unwilling to carry on using the ladder as it was unsafe our h+s officer (in house) had a change of mind and decided it was safe if some one was footing the ladder (almost impossible due to fixed raked seating) so were back to square 1,and the managment are already making comments about the cost of bringing in a casual to assit whilst we focus.

im almost at the point of given the h+s a ring to get them to visit.

[Kate]

We also have to focus our FOH bars from a raked auditorium. We use our tallescope for this, because our removable seats make this possible. Would a change in your seating arrangement, rather than your access equipment, be a possibility?

[James C]

Would a change in your seating arrangement, rather than your access equipment, be a possibility?  :D

That's probably your best bet - while a few grand spent on access equipment doesn't sound terribly sexy to management, you could probably convince them to build a new-look flagship auditorium (perhaps named after the chairman of the board, or a prominent local councillor with access to arts funding) without too much difficulty :P !

 

Sorry...I'm not being much help, I know...

[Dave]

already posted the details a month or so ago

 

im almost at the point of given the h+s a ring to get them to visit.

Sorry, I forgot about your previous post.

 

I think in the circumstances it would be sensible to contact the HSE and ask them to send someone round to look at your venue and the access arrangements. Prevention of falls from height is something they are understandably very keen on and I'm sure they'd be only too glad to help out.

 

It might be wise to discuss it with your management beforehand as they might take a dim view of this course of action. But given that there is disagreement and a change of opinion amongst the staff, seeking advice from outside is a prudent thing to do.

 

I would personally regard focussing from a ladder as unsafe on the grounds that you need both hands to focus and "best practice" when it comes to ladders is to always have one hand (and two feet!) on the ladder. Rigging and de-rigging lanterns from a ladder is also a risky business.

 

There are also the issues of ladder stability, which I know you're concerned about, fatigue, and the risks involved in constantly moving it. Depending on the arrangement of the bars, it can also be difficult to rest a ladder on them without hitting lanterns. And, of course, is the bar rated for the horizontal loading from you and the ladder??

[themadhippy]

thanks for the feedback,redoing the seating was suggested but managment wasnt too keen having olny replaced it 8 years ago and they recon it should last for a good few years.

my main concern is how our h+s officer can change there mind when a little pressure is applied from above.think I'll call the local h+s office next week see what thhey have to say on the matter

[Guest lightnix]

You mentioned something about the "nice lady from H&S" in your original post on this subject, so presumably they are already aware of the situation at your venue. Calling her / them in might be the only solution in the end, although it will do nothing to boost your popularity with the management and you might want to start keeping a weather eye on the jobs pages if you go down this route.

 

It might be worth having a final round of discussion with the management and your in house H&S officer first, putting your concerns down in writing and asking for a written reply in return. It would be interesting to know exactly on what grounds the H&S officer decided that something he previously regarded as dangerous is now safe due only to the presence of a pair of feet at the bottom of the ladder. This seems to be another example of my regular beef about using officials, risk assessments, guidelines and other pieces of paper to legitimise bad practices rather than to improve standards. Sorry to go on about it again.

 

The management have a legal duty to provide a safe place of work and ensure that genuinely safe systems of work are in place and adhered to. It might be worth reminding them (politely) that the cost of defending any legal action and the fines (and possible prison sentences) they may face if something does go wrong will probably far outweigh the cost of addressing this situation in a sensible manner. Prevention is better than cure.

 

Apart from that, the main cause of sparky / ladder accidents is not the ladder slipping or giving way, but an electric shock received from the equipment the sparky is working on causing him / her to fall, in which case it doesn't matter two figs how many people are footing the ladder. Sure, you could use a harness, but any anchoring point to which it is fixed has to be able to withstand a shock load of 6kN if it is to be legal; something way beyond the specs for most house LX bars and if you were to fall while in your harness, who would rescue you if you were incapacitated ? A casual technician ? Hmmmm...

 

Good luck with it all. Do keep us all updated.