Thursday, December 07, 2017
Health and Safety Info on a Budget
Guild of Scenic Artists: In my first article, I talked about the need for greater attention to health and safety in the arts and how we as an industry need to respect ourselves, our skills, and our purpose enough to put a high value on protecting those assets. I’m aware that this can be easier said than done. Many, if not most, small theaters have zero dollars in the budget allocated for any kind of safety program. And if your technical crew is staffed even partially by independent contractors or volunteers, it is arguable whether or not they would technically be covered by such a program.
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I think there is a culture of ignoring safety in the theater industry. People know they aren’t supposed to stand on the top step of a ladder, but they do it anyway. Knowing what hearing protection or respiratory protection you need doesn’t stop people from ignoring it. This is definitely partially a budget thing, but I think has more to do with people working fast and the general acceptance of doing unsafe things. It sometimes feels like an expectation that working in the theater industry you should be okay with not always using PPE or doing tasks in unsafe ways. I thinking taking safety into account when budgeting could help with this. Maybe the show can be built in time, and in budget, but if you don’t have enough tall enough ladders to do it safely, that should be treated as not in budget unless you can buy the necessary equipment.
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