Stage edge safety

[sunray]

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<br />One thing to bear in mind for the risk assessment, power failures.<br />Whilst EL tape or LED are very clear indicators, they do require power to be useful.  Now imagine a situation where there is a power failure, plunging the stage into an unexpected and unrehearsed 'black-out'.  This is where you really want the glow tape on all edges.

Here I'd refer you to Charlotte's comment about e-light fittings. If the venue is properly assessed for emergency lighting then there is likely to be plenty of spill or even direct illumination to NOT have the stage in blackout in a power fail. <br />I know our aud e-lights will cast a LOT of light onto stage in that scenario.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />

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Don't forget the 'power failure' may be a different circuit to the emergency lights, so the stage lights may fail but the emergency lights may not come on.

[Jevans]

Make sure the houselights are on the same circuit as your auditorium EMs, and your stage EMs are on the same circuit as your stage blues/edge lighting/whatever other performance safety lighting you have, and this should ensure that you've always got a minimum level of illumination. Yes, you could trip the stage lighting out, but you're pretty unlikely to trip the whole stage lighting system out at once unless you're very unlucky (seen it happen on a large intelligent rig full of switch mode power supplies on movers: quick brownout due to bad weather, supply voltage dipped but didn't drop entirely, so all the power supplies tried to pull a much larger current than normal to compensate - took out the MCCB over the hardpower rack) - you're far more likely to have a control issue of some sort to lose the whole rig eg. console dies etc - and then your EMs don't help you anyway. Make sure there are on buttons for the houselights and workers easily accessible to someone on stage that don't rely on the lighting desk.

[sunray]

Make sure the houselights are on the same circuit as your auditorium EMs, and your stage EMs are on the same circuit as your stage blues/edge lighting/whatever other performance safety lighting you have,

Very easily said but all too often this aspect is dedicated within the venue and easy to miss in the set lighting design where EM assumptions are easy.

Some halls even have dedicated breakers for EM's rather than hanging on the lighting circuits. DOH...

The night club with the above trilite had 2 lighting sub mains, one covered all of the lights within the dance areas including the 500W halogen 'cleaners' lights, the other covered: all of the EM's, toilets, offices, foyer etc. so there could be a total lack of power with 2000 people in the dance areas with no lights whatsoever (Well apart from the 20ft of trilite that we put in). Their electricians were adamant that is was correct. We highlighted it to the owners and I guess it was altered eventually.