Protocol: ANSI E1.6-1 was first published in 2012 and establishes requirements for the design, manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of powered hoists systems that lift and hold loads over people in entertainment facilities. It is a collaborative effort between stage equipment specifiers, designers, and users around the world, publicly reviewed and revised according to ANSI (American National Standards Institute) regulations to ensure it reflects a consensus among all industry stakeholders.
2 comments:
I think that having an ANSI standard that serves as a reference point for entertainment and theatrical machine design courses is an extremely important step into this new era of accessible automated scenery. While many aspects of our industry are stolen from other more standardized industries, when performers' and audiences' lives are at stake, there needs to be more. This certainly doesn't mean that every technical director needs to be a licensed professional engineer, it begins to define what 'standard stage machinery' is and where that word 'standard' stops.
Now, in my own personal opinion, I believe there needs to be a development of a certification program for stage automation technicians. In the same way we have rigging certifications (thank you David), we shouldn't be relying on numbers handed down from stagehand to stagehand. Mechanical designers need to know about stresses in static and dynamic machine components, physics, material properties, fatigue life, control systems, and how to accurately assess a design criterion and all the factors that come into play. I love the intersection of Engineering and Theatre, and hope to see it develop into a bigger and safer aspect of theatrical production.
As Elliot said I feel this is such a great step in the right direction for the entertainment industry. Now while I don’t think everyone needs to be an advanced engineer or a have specific certifications for absolutely everything that we do it is a good step in the right direction. We do so much in theatre and there are so many things that probably should be supervised or control by an outside board of sometime to make sure that we are keeping everyone’s best interests at heart. A lot of the time I think we as Technical Designers love to be given the challenges of things that are perceived as unachievable or so outside that no one else has or will do it, thereby we have to be creative and take and change things that aren’t meant for their intended purposes. Only at the very forefront and pinnacle of our industry can we make advanced machines from the ground up and that means we often don’t have all the right codes or purposes for things.
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