Proposed Queensland Code of Practice

[Andy Ciddor]

Things are afoot in Queensland that could have a serious impact on the operational capacity and financial viability of all live entertainment, and in particular the hire companies that provide so much of our industry's equipment.

Recent inquests into a workplace electrical fatality and the electrocution of a child at a caravan park have resulted in coronial recommendations for wider use of safety switches and amended regulations for the use of electrical equipment used outside the home.

Specifically, the Coroners recommended:
* amending the Electrical Safety Regulation 2002 (the Regulation) to require regular inspection and maintenance of all electrical equipment used outside the home including the means of delivery of power to equipment;

* expanding the safety switch initiative to include public accommodation such as caravan parks, private rental housing and public housing;

* introducing compulsory electrical inspection of these types of accommodation when sold and mandating regular supervision of electrical installations and maintenance regimes in them;

* legislating for the mandatory installation of safety switches in workplaces; and

* that the Department of Industrial Relations promote electrical safety awareness to the public so that the dangers of substandard electrical work and the benefits of safety switches are understood.

The Electrical Safety Office has initiated the Coroner’s Recommendations Project to explore these coronial recommendations.

The proposed Code of Practice for Electrical Equipment to be made under the Electrical Safety Act 2002 has the potential to impose appreciable cost on the community or part of the community and thus the Electrical Safety Office has undertaken the process of a Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) to examine all the issues.

The Queensland Government invites all members of the Queensland community to participate in the legislative development process by commenting on any information presented in this RIS.

On examining the documents (which are available for download from http://www.eso.qld.gov.au/legislation/index.htm), there are several points of interest to the lighting, hire and entertainment industries:

* there are some really good ideas relating to risk assessment and risk management that can match your actual operation situation... but
* all hired equipment may be required to be fitted with integral Residual Current Detectors (RCDs or Safety Switches).
* all existing load circuits (both power and lighting) may be required to be fitted with RCDs.
* hired equipment may be required to be tested and tagged before EVERY hire, rather than the Australian/New Zealand standard of every three months.
* stages have been identified as public places (that's not auditoriums, but STAGES - We have lots of punters on our stages).
* costings and operational impacts of implementing these proposals seem to have been made without any reference to the production industry and thus do not reflect the reality of rewiring patch panels or retrofitting RCDs to parcans and 650w mini-fresnels.

There's lots more of this if you care to download the documents and read it for yourself.

If ALIA is to make a submission to the RIS enquiry, it must be tendered by October 13th. To this end we have opend this topic, as a place for discussion of the impact of these proposals and the approach we should take in our submission. If you work, play or do business in the Sunshine State, please contribute to this process.

[jay_cee]

I was involved in a similar situation a few years ago in the video hire business, and typical to the good old Aussie way nobody did anything about it, the attitude was, "It will never happen, she'll be right " and the new laws just stormed through, the industry shit itself when the laws were instigated, it took many months of negotiation to have them altered slightly, sort of stuffed the industry for the small to medium guys, everybody then said " We should have done something" too late, it was done.
In saying all this I can understand the repercussions if nothing is done NOW about these new proposals so come on people get behind this and DO something before it is too late, on our own we are a little voice in the wilderness, but together we will be heard, don't say ill do it later, Do it now, we as an industry will suffer,maybe you may like it on the dole when you have to close your doors, its up to us to help, my company is, how about yours

[Andy Ciddor]

What we need to do here is carefully trawl through the documents to identify the proposed changes that will have an adverse impact on the industry.

Once we have a list of issues that affect us, I will draft a response on behalf of ALIA, and then put it up here for comment and refinement.

I have previously posted my preliminary list:
* all hired equipment may be required to be fitted with integral Residual Current Detectors (RCDs or Safety Switches).
* all existing load circuits (both power and lighting) may be required to be fitted with RCDs.
* hired equipment may be required to be tested and tagged before EVERY hire, rather than the Australian/New Zealand standard of every three months.
* stages have been identified as public places (that's not auditoriums, but STAGES - We have lots of punters on our stages).
* costings and operational impacts of implementing these proposals seem to have been made without any reference to the production industry and thus do not reflect the reality of rewiring patch panels or retrofitting RCDs to parcans and 650w mini-fresnels.

Please add your items to this list.
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Andy Ciddor

[jay_cee]

Something i failed to add to my last entry, i just checked my documents and i am correct in what i am about to say,
The few alterations that were made to the video situation i mentioned carried an exception and i quote the commissioner
"Only those who have had some form of input and or concern over this matter and directed to the body who is in front of me now will be the only person or persons being a company or sole trader shall be entitled to the amendments that i have made, no further considerations shall be entered into now or in the future, there is no considerations made here for ignorance or inconsideration"
This still applies today and many have challenged it, so don't think that all will be well it may not, so get involved.
I think that it is a dismal sight to see more than 30 views, and not 1 reply or comment, maybe Andy is wasting his time, maybe you all look forward to the dole, am i right here if not give a comment, its not hard to do, Andy needs all the help he can get, after all he is working on our behalf, oh and spread the word as quite a few companies don't know about this so get off your Ar## and do something.
Thats all i have to say, its up to you now.
Jay Cee

[DavidDuffy]

Re: the RCD's on fixtures.

I can't see how it would be feasable to put an RCD on each lighting fixture. I don't know the insides of an RCD intimately, but feeding one from a dimmer pack doesn't sound possible to me.

Looking more closely at the document, it basically says you have to have an RCD on each item unless either the supply has an RCD or the item is checked before each hire.

Some of the newer dimmer packs have RCD's and some venues have RCD's on the 3-phase feeds from the switchboard but there would be a lot of venues and dimmer packs with no RCD's out there.
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David Duffy
Audio Visual Devices

[Andy Ciddor]

[J.P]

I actually do not have a problem with individually fitted RCD's being fitted to equipment destined for the General Public. We at ELS allready supply a small 10 amp RCD with all driveway weekend hires, and instruct them to use it ( Although there is no paperwork waiver presented or signed ). At the moment this is relevant to the following
types of equipment, Small Disco fittings, Pinspots, Par 56 Cans, Small foggers, Small Sound Systems etc I think you get the general idea.
I tend not to hire large equipment to the GP.We also do a visual inspection and a powerup test to all this equipment and it of course carries a current compliance tag. Hard wired RCD Plugs, though being relatively inexpensive to fit, can only realistically be applied to the small amount of equipment that would go to the GP hires, not to the whole of our inventory. All the equipment that is taken by us to be installed and operated for a show is in the hands of competent operators, is under a current compliance tag, and generally the power source has an RCD fitted, in the case of a single dimmer unit straight into a 40 amp 3phase outlet it relies on the power source to have an RCD which in most cases in my experience DOES NOT. You will find most 3 phase supplies are a Breaker straight onto the Bus Bar at the distribution Board.Should not some of the onus go the Venue or building to have this in place. The other alternative is an Inline 3 Phase RCD before the Dimmer, very expensive to implement due to the number that is required for lets say the average ballroom show maybe about $500.00 each inc labour to make, but this still leaves the conundrum of 1.5 m of 3 phase cable unprotected, hence the need for the actual supply to have an RCD. I would say that in most Large show set up's ie Concerts, Large corporate etc , when power is supplied via Veem Powerlock to system distribution boards or similar
The whole system from the distribution is protected by at least 1 or several RCD Breakers, but again not the supply at the board and again you can put a tail box between the board and the power lock runs
which some companies allready implement.
On the subject of testing and taging, i am sure we all see the logistical nightmare of a 48 ft semi full of gear arriving at the shop for a turn around to go straight back out if the 1000 plus items in the cases have to go across a Pats tester, not to mention the initial testing and taging expenses associated with every show we do, ie Labour. Time Tags etc etc etc..
I think we all need to become involved with this debate, I myselfe will be passing this to as many people as possible as we do not have much time for comment.
I suppose if the govt puts this through without our industry responding we have two choices really, Close Shop or Operate Illegally

[J.P]

Well I guess no one in Queensland is interested, due to the fact that my entry was the last Point of view put forward. I hope that Alia still go ahead with some sort of submision on behalf of the dissinterested Queensland Industry, do we have an industry in Queensland? or do I go to a figment of my own imagination every morning and pump out fictional equipment.
Come on guys !!!!. Alia could just as easily not bother on your behalf, as you have not bothered on your own behalf. I suppose I am really talking to the wall anyway, as I have sent Links etc to a large number of people, and there are no submisions to this forum.
I am also sure, as I recieved it Andy has sent info to all and sundry as well. Today is the 9th and I gather submisions close on the 13th, next wed. SO BE IT

[Andy Ciddor]

It seems that ELS is the only company trading in Queensland these days. If that isn't the case today, it may well be the case when the new Code of Practice comes into force. As soon as I wrap up my monthly column for TV Technology magazine in the US, sometime later tonight (Saturday), I will start on the ALIA submission for Queensland.

I would really appreciate some of the interested parties having a look over the proposed Code of Practice and jotting down some notes as to what issues it raises. That would help me to make sure that I address all relevant matters in our submission.

Tempting as it may be to leave Queenslanders to suffer from their own overwhelming indifference, ALIA will continue to develop a submission. Unless of course you're all happy with the new Code. If that is the case please drop us a line, and I'll just sit back with a glass of white and watch the elections on TV (or maybe a DVD of Don's Party )
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Andy Ciddor

[DavidDuffy]

I notice that page 30 of the "code of practice" says:

89 Double adaptors and piggyback plugs prohibited
(1) An employer or self-employed person must not use a double adaptor or piggyback plug.
(2) An employer must ensure the employer’s workers do not use a double adaptor or piggyback plug.

This seems not to apply to hire situations though but "class 2" work although I'm not sure what class hiring does come under.

Also, on page 34, it says that each hired item needs an inspect and test before each hire unless fitted with an RCD. On page 17 however, having an RCD on the supply negates that. Why the difference between the two pages? Am I missing something about the situations to which each page applies?
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David Duffy
Audio Visual Devices

[DavidDuffy]

Looking at the "Regulatory Impact Statement", on page 15 option 3 proposes the introduction of RCDs to all workplaces. (over a 4 year period) I think this would be the way to go instead of pushing for RCDs on every piece of gear that is hired out. We have RCDs on all benches and feeds to GPOs in our workplace. The cost was minimal really and I certainly sleep better with them installed. The RCD issue seems to be the main one that would concern hire organisations. Surely there must be hire companies in QLD other than ELS that have something to say on this situation??
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David Duffy
Audio Visual Devices

[Andy Ciddor]

[Andy Ciddor]

[Andy Ciddor]

Even though most of the Queensland industry was too busy to bother about their future, we figured that nobody in the industry really wanted to have to Test & Tag every piece of equipment, every time a venue is hired, or every time rental equipment is hired out.

After discussions with a member of the Stakeholders' Reference Group, ALIA has discovered that many of what appeared to be draconian measures contained in the Code of Practice, were actually the result of imprecise drafting. ALIA has now sought to be included in the Stakeholders' Reference Group that will continue with the process of reviewing the proposed Code of Practice.

The full text of the ALIA submission is available for download as an Acrobat (PDF) file.
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Andy Ciddor

[Andy Ciddor]

Today (Thursday 21st October) ALIA was invited to join the Stakeholder Reference Group and attend their next meeting, TOMORROW in Brisbane.

Arrangements have now been made so that ALIA can participate in the meeting via a conference phone hook-up from my office at home in Hobart (way better than flying all that way for a short meeting).


I will post a report on the outcomes of the meeting, sometime over the weekend.
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Andy Ciddor