I have two studio theaters and a bigger stage at my new gig. The mainstage dimmer room had an exorbitant number of "spare" D20s stacked in a corner when I started, which tingled my spidey sense in a "hmm... Let's check the studio racks" sort of way. The pic is one of two SR48s some industrious soul... err... converted to SR24s... quite likely with some high school students participating, you know, for their education. Powered up, no disconnects to be found, racks unlocked, dimmer room door has a lock but the hinges are bent so it doesn't latch. Dimmer rooms being used for typical classroom storage (not any more) and given all factors I'm truly surprised nobody tried yet to stow their most prized treasures inside the rack and go boom.
Hire qualified people, and if there's a lock on a piece of equipment, in a school, use it.
Also makes me think about how the dimmer room doors and racks in places I've worked have almost always been unmarked with safety signage. In this building, the first signage you encounter is the Danger sticker on that exposed bus. My prior venue just did an arc flash assessment about 2yrs ago and posted that signage on racks and disconnects, but not on the door to the room in my recollection. Sure could help ignorant but responsible people figure out the right thing to do/experts to ask/don't let the know-it-all HS set designer in, especially in schools where qualified staffing is inconsistent. Doesn't necessarily keep a truly industrious soul who "knows what they're doing" from trying to expose two feet of bus in an energized rack, but if there were two locked locks and lots of this room will kill you zap bang signage then maybe somebody else would intervene.
Hire qualified people, and if there's a lock on a piece of equipment, in a school, use it.
Also makes me think about how the dimmer room doors and racks in places I've worked have almost always been unmarked with safety signage. In this building, the first signage you encounter is the Danger sticker on that exposed bus. My prior venue just did an arc flash assessment about 2yrs ago and posted that signage on racks and disconnects, but not on the door to the room in my recollection. Sure could help ignorant but responsible people figure out the right thing to do/experts to ask/don't let the know-it-all HS set designer in, especially in schools where qualified staffing is inconsistent. Doesn't necessarily keep a truly industrious soul who "knows what they're doing" from trying to expose two feet of bus in an energized rack, but if there were two locked locks and lots of this room will kill you zap bang signage then maybe somebody else would intervene.
