Design Safety Cables

[techietim]

Hi All,

Wondering whether anyone can give me any advice/support on this. In my opinion the use of safety cables is extremly important.
The high school that I'm working at currently has a rig with no safety cables at all on any fixtures so I have two questions.

Is there any law/regulation (UK) that says you must use safety cables or is it just a rule among theatre techies?
Also, does anyone know any good places to buy safety cables cheaply (but not compromising quality!) online/in-store (again in UK)?

Thanks very much!

Tim

 

[gafftaper]

The general importance of Safety cables has been talked about extensively here in the past. Do a search and you will find many discussions.

Unfortunately, I don't know if there are actual laws in the UK or a good place to purchase them in the UK. Hopefully we can find someone with knowledge to help. Here in the U.S. there are a variety of places to get them for very cheap (about $2-$3). I can't imagine them costing a lot there either.

The first thing I would do is call your local dealer. If the price seems high try to talk them down because you are buying a fairly large quantity... or at least try.

EDIT: Barbizon is one of the world's biggest dealers. They also are sponsors of CB. They have a location in London and would be a good place to contact. Here is their contact information.

 

[techietim]

Thanks gafftaper,

We don't really have Theatre Shops in the UK as far as I am aware (sorry if there is! ) but I will ask the people at my theatre on the next show.
What places do you recommened in the US? Is there any laws/regs regarding this in the US?

 

[cpf]

Even if there isn't a law regarding them, if you're in the position of selling the expenditure to Administration make sure to bring up how bad it would look on the school if a serious - or fatal - accident could have been prevented by a $5 cable.

 

[gafftaper]

Even if there isn't a law regarding them, if you're in the position of selling the expenditure to Administration make sure to bring up how bad it would look on the school if a serious - or fatal - accident could have been prevented by a $5 cable.

Yes it's rare but clamps Do fail and a lot more often than you might expect. ESPECIALLY in schools where maintenance tends to be less and more students tend to be working with them. Over tightening is the cause of clamp failure so be sure to teach safe clamp tightening. I teach, finger tighten the clamp as much as possible then use your wrench to give 1/4 to 1/2 additional turn. Never more than 1/2 turn past finger tight.

Is there any laws/regs regarding this in the US?

There are really not that many theater specific laws in the U.S. and there are none regarding safety cables. We tend to live by fear of lawsuits here. Failing to secure a fixture and having it fall could result in millions of dollars of fines because of your negligence. So every responsible theater uses safety cables.

Since you don't have a local shop, just give Barbizon a call. Many of us around here have done business with them in the U.S. and in Australia. They have some excellent people, providing competitive rates and great service. I'm sure they will be very helpful to you. Be sure to tell them you heard about them because of their advertising on Controlbooth.com. They may not even be aware of us over there. Those banners up there at the top of the site pay the bills and keep CB going so it's great when we can acknowledge to them that their advertising is working. Around here, we always suggest contacting a local dealer first, because if we don't support our local shops they don't stay in business, if they aren't in business they won't be there to rescue your show when you need something at the last minute. However the big guys like Barbizon are great to deal with when you don't have a good local option.

 

[Chris15]

I still maintain that I have never seen a clamp fail, but I have seen the bolt holding the light to the clamp come undone in mid air.
But remember we use a different clamp design down here...

As to the UK - check the Occupational (Workplace) Heath and Safety Laws. Chances are that there will be wording along the lines of doing whatever a "reasonable person" would do to ensure safety.
A reasonable person uses safety cables

 

[traxman25]

I still maintain that I have never seen a clamp fail, but I have seen the bolt holding the light to the clamp come undone in mid air.
But remember we use a different clamp design down here...

As to the UK - check the Occupational (Workplace) Heath and Safety Laws. Chances are that there will be wording along the lines of doing whatever a "reasonable person" would do to ensure safety.
A reasonable person uses safety cables

I've seen a broken C-clamp. The clamp broke at the top corner where the pipe sits. There's no way the clamp would have ever made it in the air as it wouldn't tighten to anything. It just kept spreading open. With that said I always set a fixture on the pipe, safety it and then tighten the clamp. If there was no safety and that clamp opened all the way up I'd still hate to drop a fixture 4 feet to the deck, probably damaging the fixture, the deck and my (or someone else's) foot.

 

[lwinters630]

Techietim,

Safety cables are not just for fear of clamps breaking, it is to prevent a serious of fatal injury from a fixture that falls. I also work with high school students. Clamps have broken, and bolts that were loose cause fixtures to (almost) fall. Thanks to the safety cables they did not. Many times students fail to tighten, or for unknown reasons they get loosened, perhaps other people have used the venue. The practice I use is the safety is put on FIRST and taken off LAST. Whenever possible keep it attached to every fixture so there is no excuse for students not having a safety cables. If you are mounting a fixture over heads, safety it.

 

[venuetech]

Any safety cable is a secondary support
the first thing that needs to happen when you hang a fixture is to hand tighten the clamp so the unit cannot get knocked off the pipe as you fasten the safety. once the safety is on then you can wrench tighten the c-clamp, the pan nut, the yoke bolt.

Most important is a double check of all fixtures on the position. before it flys or before you leave the position.

This check is repeated whenever you have access to that position again. so when you bring the electric in to change a lamp you change the lamp, then before it flys to trim you check each fixture again for safety, colorframe, c-clamp, etc...

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Other items, such as projectors and speakers, also require safety cables depending how they are hung/rigged/mounted.