Lawyers are the second most numerous certified professionals in California. Odds are one of the precious little children under that cable has a parent who is a lawyer, and they won't be happy if you
drop something on their child. They probably won't be happy if they find out you're rigging something without the proper insurance or certification either.
Also, from what I've seen down here, school districts are perfectly ok with throwing an employee or contractor under the bus to protect themselves. Have you seen exactly what liability they protect you from? You may find that you're explicitly prohibited from doing the kind of work you're doing. I know that I'm protected for "standard
stage operations" which they define as things like hanging and moving
stage lighting equipment, running and connecting
power cables for
stage lighting equipment (not to exceed 10AWG or involve anything over a 20A
circuit, whereafter they assume one is trying to handle/install mains) and the construction of sets for use on
stage. I am NOT covered for changing rigging, except operating the three
electric winches we have. I could not hang
truss, and if I need one of the
dead hung battens at a different height or location for a show, we have to
call in a rigger to supervise. This is something I'm perfectly happy with too, because it makes it one less thing I have to worry about being responsible for later one, and because they're more likely to catch things I wouldn't. I'm not, after all, a trained rigger.
While I would agree that what you're trying to do is probably not the greatest engineering and public
safety challenge of our time, there is a reason people hire riggers. Not only do they have much greater knowledge and experience than you, but they're covered in case something does go wrong. They can also create a contract between themselves and the school that increases everyone's protection and clearly states responsibility for possible unexpected events.
Don't like this rigger? Find another one. This is southern California, they're not as common as lawyers, but they shouldn't be impossible to find. Maybe one will help a school out, you won't know until you ask.
PS: I like the idea of having an electrician doing a permanent install. If this is a regular event, and especially if it could be useful for other events, it's probably worth it just to have it run properly and permanently, so you never have to worry about this again.
