Had an interesting conversation with a buddie who’s an IATSE Local 1 member. His show closed in Sept. and he’s on a load-in in a different theater where they are now requiring that the stagehands have the OSHA 30 Construction Certification. This is apparently a requirement of the theater owner for work in their particular theater. I had not heard of this prior. Maybe a ?
OSHA 30
- Thread starterSteveB
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Crisp image
Well-Known Member
Here in Victoria Australia (can't speak for other states although there is something in place) we have a white card which is a construction induction card. It takes less than a day to obtain with the training and it covers such topics as safety in the workplace (specifically construction) but most of it can be applied to what we do. It talks aboru risk and hazards, doing a risk assessment, safe work method statements and other things including mental health. So while it is not specifically for theatre (although one training provider does push it towards theatre) the information is good for those just starting out and may not be aware of the risks and hazards working in these environments.
It is basic common sense stuff but as we know common sense is not that common. At one place I worked for 31 years the OHS regulator said the only reason people were not killed on our site was the experience of the workforce. I agree to a point. I also think it was due to the training on and off the job that helped too (heavy mining machinery)
Even if you have been in the industry for a while I think you can benifit form such training even if it reminds you of one thing that could save you and others from injury.
My thoughts here.
Regards
Geoff
It is basic common sense stuff but as we know common sense is not that common. At one place I worked for 31 years the OHS regulator said the only reason people were not killed on our site was the experience of the workforce. I agree to a point. I also think it was due to the training on and off the job that helped too (heavy mining machinery)
Even if you have been in the industry for a while I think you can benifit form such training even if it reminds you of one thing that could save you and others from injury.
My thoughts here.
Regards
Geoff
I am pretty sure Massachusetts requires an OSHA cards for any state construction contract workers. I first got mine because I was upgrading a bunch of dimmer rack frontends as a subcontractor to a state contract some 10-15 years ago.
I read the NY State law, it is reasonably specific as a requirement for construction sites. What I read made no mention of theatrical venues, that might be listed on other documentation, but I can see where there is work done in a major load in on a Broadway stage (or other venues) to have the venue owner want to follow those state laws.
Lextech
Well-Known Member
OSHA 10 for hands and 30 for department heads seems to be where we are headed. Makes sense after seeing all the dumb stuff I have seen. My TD and I did the OSHA 10 at USITT and when we got back to the university actually convinced the safety department that the IATSE OSHA 30 would be a benefit for the Arts departments, faculty and staff, as well as ALL of the physical plant department heads. Still see stupid actions on campus but not as many.
Following this very topical conversation.
I am fully in support of more safety training. I am against uncompensated demands from employers. During the pandemic I did some controls work for Amazon and OSHA 10, NFPA 70E, and CPR were all conducted while on the clock. There are arguments that OSHA 30 could be seen like a college degree and it is the employees responsibility to pass the training in order to be eligible for hiring. I do an annual rigging inspection at the campus for a large chemical company and have to do 4 hours of online site specific health and safety orientations before I am allowed to work. You better believe I bill for that time. The training is valid for one year so if the schedulers cared about the time they could have the inspection a little earlier the 2nd year so my certs would still be valid but it never seems to work out like that.
Coming from the concert touring side of the industry things get murky in regards to the employer/employee relationship. As a W2 vendor or production employee my interpretation is that it is my employer's responsibility to provide me with all my PPE like harness, multimeter, hard hat, and high vis. That is not the case in the industry though some vendors are slowly moving in that direction. What about locals? Who is their employer and are they being provided the nesicary PPE? One of my clients tours 150 hard hats to provide to locals in order to comply with our policy of everyone wearing hardhats until all trusses are at trim. Enforcement of the policy can be dificult and the tour is constently having to purcase new hard hats as some get left behind or taken home.
Coming from the concert touring side of the industry things get murky in regards to the employer/employee relationship. As a W2 vendor or production employee my interpretation is that it is my employer's responsibility to provide me with all my PPE like harness, multimeter, hard hat, and high vis. That is not the case in the industry though some vendors are slowly moving in that direction. What about locals? Who is their employer and are they being provided the nesicary PPE? One of my clients tours 150 hard hats to provide to locals in order to comply with our policy of everyone wearing hardhats until all trusses are at trim. Enforcement of the policy can be dificult and the tour is constently having to purcase new hard hats as some get left behind or taken home.
Then there's the Spot Meeting with the Lighting Crew Chief at 1/2-hour:
"Truss spots MUST use a tour-supplied harness, even though your personal harness is likely to be more comfortable, safer, and have a better inspection record. In case of incident, if you're not wearing one of our harnesses, our insurance will not cover you, yours, or other expenses."
The HOUSE may say the exact same thing, although in my experience will be the first to back down.
So the truss spot op should have three possible harness candidates available to him at all times. Does it say that in OSHA 8?
Jay Ashworth
Well-Known Member
Given the comments about "rotting your brain", I wonder:
Is this stuff effective because you *learn something*, or because *other people listen, now, when you tell them... because they know everyone's paying attention*...?
Is this stuff effective because you *learn something*, or because *other people listen, now, when you tell them... because they know everyone's paying attention*...?
Rotting your brain is more because unless you take the IATSE version, the typical OSHA 10/30's have lots of non-applicable topics like working in trenches.
There's also a degree to which the training is dumbed down to the lowest common denominator because the content of that training has to be accessible to everyone in a multitude of different trades, levels of education, and some of whom are apprentices that just started their first job in the construction industry a week ago.
I would generally question the effectiveness of the training in a broad sense. At least in the short-term for someone working for an employer who doesn't care, people who don't care about safety are going to walk out of that training still not caring. Then you have people who do care, but their employer or peers don't so it's an uphill battle. With IATSE's version of the training, I think that has a stronger impact though because 1) it's tailored to be more relevant, and 2) it's a testament that the industry and the workforce are making safety a higher priority. I also suspect the trainers care a lot more about the people in the room than with the general OSHA training. You're more likely to get someone who understands your day-to-day and isn't just throwing lots of regulatory compliance information at you in a shotgun blast for the purpose of making someone else's insurance provider happy and so you don't ding their worker's comp claims and rating.
To that last point...Working in construction, I've taken a lot of safety training over the years. Most job sites you cannot walk onto without stopping at the job trailer, watching a 30 minute video, signing your name on a sheet, and putting a sticker on your helmet. Out of all of those, the two most effective training sessions I've ever done were entirely dependent on the trainer. One was lift training where the trainer said "listen -- if you don't follow everything I've said here to the tee, it's not like you're going to instantly fall of a lift tomorrow and die -- but if you don't take anything away from this training and play it fast and loose, maybe you're having an off day where you're feeling under the weather or something someone said to you earlier is bothering you or you're distracted by something at home -- never put yourself in a position where a stupid or silly momentary distraction can be the difference between life or death. It only takes a second to take a step backward and fall out of a lift where the gate is broken, doesn't latch shut, and you weren't wearing a harness or didn't have it clipped in."
The 2nd other session I found to be compelling was when there were 20-30 hardened, older construction workers who had seen it all. They grew up in an era where nobody took safety seriously -- and they all had stories and had seen friends seriously injured or die on the job. Some of them more than once. Many cried recounting those stories, and while I'm sure they all thought it was a bit of a nuisance to keep clipping in above 6ft, not one person left that training without feeling the emotional toll of what were entirely preventable accidents. The emphasis from the trainer came from a place of care that everyone gets to make it home safely to their families each and every day -- and that these regulations are written in blood. As opposed to, what 95% of safety training normally is..."here's a bunch of inconvenient stuff you must do or someone's going to write you up or send you home."
My takeaway from that is if you can get the training from someone in your own industry, for training that's tailored more to the hazards of your specific work, and who understands just how damning a "show must go on" mentality can be -- it is invaluable to receive training from someone "within the family."
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At this years ESA Safety Summit IATSE present a session about Multi Employer work sites, which is what we are. Very informative, and the reality is that the employer of record is not the only employer responsible for mitigation of risks.
You have the following:
Controlling employer
Creating employer
Exposing employer
Correcting employer
We as an industry have just been lucky to have flown under the radar, and ignorant of the actual rules.
https://www.osha.gov/laws-regs/standardinterpretations/2012-07-20#:~:text=Under the Multi-Employer Citation,subject to an OSHA citation.
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The tour's insurance may not cover the TOUR in the event of a non-tour harness used, but I can guaran-bleeping-tee that the tour will still be liable to at least a 50% degree, with the employer/venue on the hook, too, because they failed to address the conflicting policy and communicate the resolution to the worker.
Ya that wouldn't fly in my building. My crew, my payroll, my harness. I HATE the personal harness thing that we do in this industry. I get it, but I 100% think its a terrible policy.
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