No lifts or catwalk use at our School!

[chris325]

As long as knowledgeable faculty supervision is present, students can run light and sound boards and access the catwalks, which are 3-4 feet wide surrounded by steel railings. There's never been a need for ladders or a genie, and getting to the catwalks is simply a matter of walking up a couple of sets of stairs. The only way to fall from these catwalks would be actually climb over or under the railings, which is never needed to focus lights. And we don't take people up there just to show them around, there's always a specific reason behind being up there.

As for students not being able to run the board at some high schools, if a student has been taught how to operate the board there is no reason why he or she shouldn't be allowed to use it. I guess that some admins see the price tags on these things and automatically assume that the only people that can operate them safely are the faculty running the theatre.

 

[shiben]

Wow, I'm not really afraid of heights, but there is no way I would go up there.

I totally would. After getting a IRATA/SPRAT Level III.

 

[zuixro]

I totally would. After getting a IRATA/SPRAT Level III.

Ok, let me correct myself:

Wow, I'm not really afraid of heights, but there is no way I would go up there without the proper safety equipment and training.

 

[teejmya]

For my last show, a parent at some party happened to work for the insurance provider and someone mentioned that we were building a pool for the next show and no sooner than a few days later we had a flood insurance policy put in place for the theatre. It's more about admin becoming aware of an existing problem than suddenly changing their minds about something they had previously considered okay -- most wouldn't have allowed students in a lift in the first place, but it's not exactly in their job description to think about that. When you're hired as a principal, nobody points at you and says, "Oh, by the way, our students are going 50' above the stage floor to access the weight floor in the theatre and toss counterweight around, and they're also getting in bucket and scissor lifts without fall arrest harnesses to focus lighting for the school play."

Out of sight, out of mind.

Actually, there is a play in our up-and-coming show at our highschool. Grabbing insurance for that is a great and overlooked idea, that I'll have to bring up to the TD.

And in our theatre, we use catwalks all the time with express district permission. Only theatre adults, and lighting kids are allowed up. I guess they think that we know what were doing. Good call.

 

[MNicolai]

Actually, there is a play in our up-and-coming show at our highschool. Grabbing insurance for that is a great and overlooked idea, that I'll have to bring up to the TD.

You probably don't need to. Many things are covered by the large umbrella that is a school district's existing insurance policy. When you start doing weird things like putting giant 1400-gallon pools of water in your black box theatre's seating area, that's a good time to double check that you've got all your bases covered. In my opinion, unnecessarily bringing in an insurance agent to inspect the set before a show is far scarier than bringing in AHJ. AHJ has laws and policies to gauge things by, while your insurance company can just very broadly say, "Someone could trip and hurt themselves -- you can't use that staircase, those platforms, put those cables there, and I want a railing in front of the ledge of the orchestra pit or you can't do the show."

Certainly make certain that you have all of your ducks in a row, but be careful how many ducks you ask for because you might get more than expected and get quacked into a corner.