When you are a theatre manager you have more than just the health and safety of your theatre staff to consider in your day to day tasks of running your theatre. You also need to have thorough and robust Health & Safety policies and procedures in place to help protect every single person that sets foot over your threshold or needs to work in the immediate vicinity of your building.
You have to take into consideration the health and safety needs of those who spend their working day within your theatres, such as set designers and maintenance staff. Not forgetting, of course, the visiting performing artists using your space for rehearsals and public performances.
There is also the risks to the general public attending your theatre productions to assess and address to ensure a safe environment for them to have an enjoyable time. With such a diverse range of people to take care of with regards to their personal safety, it falls upon you like the theatre owner or manager to ensure that your theatre complies with current health and safety laws.
How current health and safety laws apply to theatres
The Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and its related legislation applies to theatres and other entertainment and arts facilities as it does to all other businesses in the UK. This health and safety act requires certain duties to be performed by employers, managers, employees, self-employed employees and anyone with a level of control of the theatre.
It is a commonly known fact that the vast majority of personal injuries sustained in the theatre industry are caused through incorrect manual handling and working at height. Obviously, most theatres have high ceilings and stage areas to be able to accommodate large production sets and furniture, for sound and acoustic reasons, as well as to allow ample space for house seating.
Working at height is an inevitable part of the job for a vast majority of theatre workers, whether they be behind the scenes staff, or the artistes themselves needing to climb stage sets and rigging as part of their performance.
Theatre equipment safety checks
Legally, you need to ensure that the equipment you use for working at height is thoroughly safety checked, inspected and tested regularly to ensure it can be reasonably and practicably be used for its purpose.
Rigging to allow scenery items and lighting units to be safely brought down to ground level for swapping over or replacement must also be thoroughly safety tested and have proper handling procedures in place to ensure the safety of people working in the immediate area are not put at risk during operation. The same goes for bridges, catwalks, and gantries. You should ensure that all employees working at height are wearing the correct safety equipment such as harnesses or safety
lines etc. to help prevent falls.
Blue Lemon Health and Safety Software
Whether you are concerned about your staff and production crews working at height, or you want to minimise the risk of injuries from a large amount of manual handling that is involved with theatre work, keeping on top of your Health and Safety requirements is essential if you want your theatre to continue to be a success.
This is where using Blue Lemon Health and Safety Software is the perfect solution for you. You can easily manage all of your Health and Safety requirements using our complete software solution. You can keep on top of the essential tasks you need to perform to comply with current H&S legislation and feel confident and rest assured that you have everything in hand with regards to your obligations. With Blue Lemon software you can:
· Keep all of your Risk Assessments in one place, be reminded of when they need reviewing and keep a history of changes
· Manage all of your Health & Safety certificates in one place and be reminded when they are up for renewal
· Record all of your equipment safety checks and maintenance reports
· Record, schedule, and report on all of your staff training requirements
· Report your incidents in one place, getting notified when there has been an accident and statistics to show any trends
· Store all your important Health and Safety Documentation in one place where anyone can access it
You can find out more about our very user-friendly Health & Safety software on our website, or if you want to discuss your software needs in person, then do not hesitate to contact our friendly team and we will be happy to answer your questions.
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