Monday, August 27, 2012
Portable Stage, Fall Arrest Draft Standards in Review
PLSN: New Portable Stage and Fall Arrest Draft Standards have just been posted for industry review by Karl Ruling, PLASA Technical Standards Manager. The standards are available for download on the PLASA website and are in review through Sept. 24.
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3 comments:
It is interesting that updates havre been made around many aspects of temporary structures, not just the actual constuction. I see the value of standards for the ground and temportary ground upon which a structure is installed. It does not come as a surprise that that may have been lacking standards, but it is a little surprising that fall arrest has not had specific requirements.
I'm slightly surprised that these standards are being examined for the structures on which the stages are created, but not for structures in which the audience sits. While it is extremely important that the structures that are supporting all of the equipment are up to par in order to protect the performers, crew, and audience who are close to the structures, I feel that it is also important to look at the standards for audience structures. Soon enough we could have an instance where the structure the audience is in fails, and it could pose a much more dangerous situation to a greater number of people than the stage structure depending on the number of people in the audience.
To a certain degree, this whole article [and the concept of drafting standards for portable stages, etc] seems like a There, I Fixed It scenario: "It's okay! I'm tied off to the ladder sitting on this roadbox!"
Intellectually, I realize that we're often times talking about still very large structures but the idea that they are portable and therefore not inherently stable will always make me nervous, no matter how many standards they write or how much I learn about them.
HOWEVER, given the growing number of productions utilizing portable structures of larger and larger scope [HALFTIME SHOWS, OLYMPICS] and the growing number of people required just to make them work will only increase the possibilities for injuries which may occur. No matter my own personal hangups, it's comforting to see industry leaders continue to take these things seriously and constantly revise and refine the standards for them.
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