Venue Safety

[showtech]

Hi all,
well i know this is going to sound like a sales pitch, but I figure that we here many stories like this and not many people know who to go to for help.
Obviously your first action is a duty of care to ALL involved.
You should always say something to a senior member of the production company and venue. NEVER put yourself or others at risk. If nothing is done, YES contact work cover, thats what they are there for, to protect against unsafe work practices.

or You can contact a company like Showtech Australia, we conduct many inspections for venues, production companies both ameature and professional. Basically Peter if you or your theatre group contact someone like us even to inspect the venue prior to you entering or starting work there, that shows duty of care in the first instance.
We have done this many times and the report shows you and the venue what needs to be done to rectify the problems and the cost involved, if the venue/space is suitable to use or in some instances we have actually "de-commissioned" a venue not suitable to use.

By having this report as a first instance it gives the venue the option to rectify the problems possibly in time for the show to continue, in the other instance it shows you the production company whether the venue is safe or not and you need to find an alternative venue.

If the venue is not fixed it also gives you something in writing to show to workcover.

many people are "scared" of workcover, dont be they are not the bad guys. They are there to protect you.

at the end of the day "Safety should NEVER be compromised by budgets" whether it be the production company or venue.

There are regulations for what we do and as much as they can be found on the workcover site they are hard to find under "publications". Most of them do not come under any "entertainment" category. The reason being is that our Industry is not categorised as we only make up 5% therefore we fall under the construction industry. So many of the regulations will be found in "construction". The other place to look in at the standards australia website, or contact standards australia.



You or the production company also has a duty of care to ensure that their workers are competant to perform the works required.
Showtech conduct courses specifically to suit the entertainment industry. We have for some ameature and professional companies actually done courses specifically to meet their needs, ie how to operate a fly system, Introduction to rigging for technicians and performers, which includes OHS, and several other courses to obtain federal workcover licences.
Tiny from Showtech is the first person in the "Entertainment Industry" to be a Federal Workcover assessor
These courses can be conducted- in the venue, on site, or at our facility
to see these courses please contact us or see our website at www.showtechaustralia.com.au

Now Public liability Insurance, I wont go on to much about this but many people will know the work we have been doing to try and solve this issue. If you have not recieved or would like to recieve our update/statement on this issue please contact me and i would be more than happy to forward you the information.
In short, we have found a broker and authorised underwriter who I have been working with for the past 12 months and is willing to look at our industry specifically.

Remember " safety should NEVER be compromised by Budgets"


Robyn Good
Showtech Australia Pty Ltd
Showtech Rigging