Tricks for storing gear in catwalks?

[jwl868]

gafftaper

It would be worth your time to read through both OSHA (29 CFR 1910) and Washington State OSHA regarding walking and working surfaces (where railings are discussed) and means of egress (where passageways, particularly with respect to emergency exits are discussed). The issues that you are dealing with should be covered there. Although prevention of tripping and obstruction hazards should be obvious, any shelves/hanging equipment/etc must not interfere with the top of the handrail. It appears that OSHA requires at least 1.5 inches clearance.

No intermediate rail? And 35” [if that's what it is – I see that you included a ? mark] on that top railing seems a bit low. And does that catwalk access door swing inward?
http://www.lni.wa.gov/WISHA/Rules/ge...AC296-24-75011

If you put any storage up there, the placement should be where it is least likely to interfere with egress, like at the lower right corner of your drawing.

I like the cabinet idea, but do consider the position of the door when it is open.

I’ve read discussions on other threads about carrying small items up to catwalks and the hazards with dropping them. Storage areas on your catwalk will attract small items too. (Nature also abhors an empty flat surface.)


Joe

[derekleffew]

Originally Posted by gafftaper

...I like your adjustable unistrut rack idea for the lighting instruments...

Now that I've seen a picture, I'm not sure I like my idea for instrument storage. What size are the posts holding up the catwalks, and what is the spacing between them? They look like 2" (2.375"o.d.) pipe, and are spaced less than 10' o.c. So I would use scaffold clamps to attach 1.5" (1.9"o.d.) pipe spanning between the posts to hang non-active fixtures, with safeties of course. In fact, if I were you, I'd take off one side of the yoke of every fixture and "permanently" affix the safety cable. And of course keep extras in one place.

[icewolf08]

Originally Posted by derekleffew

I'm not going to offer any advice about emergency egress, but was going to asked if you'd planned a seating configuration yet. I suspect you'll want a 3/4 thrust configuration most of the time. Unless you need/want to fit as many seats into the room as possible, for that, a proscenium configuration is best. I suspect you'll find that once installed, the seating will not change nearly as much as you think it might, because even with free labor, and the best manufactured risers, it becomes a pain, and takes away from the scenic build time.
Due to the perimeter curtain, the area between the outside wall and the drape will be used as a crossover. Do you have dedicated "blues" built into your worklight system? If not, there goes 3 dimmers and at least 9 of your S4PARs-WFL and you'd better order Devon#144 Medium Blue glass in 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" size and R104 for them, to hang with sidearms off the perimeter catwalks as downlight running/Equity lights.
I'm currently downloading Google SketchUp, as soon as it's installed and I figure out how to use it, I'll draw up my cable hanging racks. Or I may just draw it up in Excel!

A couple things:

First off, Derek is probably right in that you won't change the seating as much as you might want. We had a flexible space when I was in college, and it wasn't terribly hard to change, but we still only did it for one show each year. It really is just a large PITA to change it around.

As for running lights, why on earth would you give up a single dimmer or theatrical fixture for them? That is crazy talk. We use a few custom built "floor lamps" for the upstage crossover, and we use those clip on work lights (like this:) everywhere else. 25w blue party bulbs and we are set to go. It is cheap and simple and in accordance with AEA rules.

[jwl868]

By the way, to find the US OSHA regulations, go to the link below (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations), then scroll to Title 29 – Labor. Then go to 1910 for General Industry or 1926 for Construction.

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/text...l=%2Findex.tpl

(Caffeinate yourself before using...)

Joe

[derekleffew]

Off topic posts re: Charcoaldabs's catwalks moved to new thread here.

[gafftaper]

Thanks guys lot's of things to comment on here.

The Control Booth is in the West Wall. The battens all run North/South. It looks like in order to be able to do a proscenium show with full curtains we will have to rotate so everything runs East/West. That would suck.

I really appreciate the comments on OSHA/WISHA. I'll do some looking into that before I do anything storage wise. Derek I like you design but this whole idea may be toast due to WISHA. Someone asked, yes the entrance/exit door to the catwalk opens inward.

I've got small recessed lighting built into the walls all the way around that looks like what you often see in an aisle seat of a theater. It's not working yet so I don't know how effective it'll be to use... but that's another long painful story. Short version: In the dimmer room there are the dimmer racks and then the network control box... not sure what the proper name is for this unit. It's the real brain of the system that handles all the talk on the network from the remote locations and the main console. Strand sent ours to a building on the east coast and sent us theirs. The unit we have is not compatible with the rest of the network so we are now waiting for the old brain to be removed and shipped to the East coast and the new one removed from their building and shipped to us. I'm told there may be weeks of darkness in the theater while this is solved.

I'm fairly sure that 3/4 thrust will be our default configuration. According to the designs from Wenger that configuration actually holds about 20 more seats than Proscenium. The drama teacher is hardcore into always mixing things up. She's got three shows in the space this year with three configurations planned. We'll see how long she stays with it but I have the feeling it's going to be a long time until she gets tired of having students move things around.

[jwl868]

gafftaper

Another thought: Could a "fully enclosed shelf unit" be attached to the outboard side of any of the "main" catwalk runs (that is, the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, or westernmost run)? Is there an aesthetic reason not to? [You'd have to figure out the "how" part. Sorry - maybe I'm trying to bell a cat.]

On the outboard side, they would be out of the aisle. The size (height) would have to be such that the handrail isn't interfered with. If the bottom of the shelf is flush with the walkway, then the likelihood of things falling to the floor below is reduced.


Joe

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by jwl868

gafftaper
Another thought: Could a "fully enclosed shelf unit" be attached to the outboard side of any of the "main" catwalk runs (that is, the northernmost, southernmost, easternmost, or westernmost run)? Is there an aesthetic reason not to? [You'd have to figure out the "how" part. Sorry - maybe I'm trying to bell a cat.]
On the outboard side, they would be out of the aisle. The size (height) would have to be such that the handrail isn't interfered with. If the bottom of the shelf is flush with the walkway, then the likelihood of things falling to the floor below is reduced.
Joe

I was just thinking about that after looking at the WISHA stuff. It looks like I'm going to have to custom build something no matter what I do. There are plenty of points to attach things to up there. Due to that perimeter curtain anything placed on the outside perimeter of the catwalks will not be over the head of any audience member and will not be visible.

[Charc]

Have you looked into the boom mounted exit sign? Also, am I the only one who likes the exit signs in Europe better?



Compared to:

[derekleffew]

The lower sign reminds me of the Nilsson song, "Me and My Arrow." Which "old farts" remember that?