The correct time to use striking is when using an HMI or discharge lamp that has an arc as looking into the light can damage your eyes.
For standard lights we just yell EYES in the industry
What is the term you yell if you (God forbid) drop something from the catwalk?
- Thread starterCrisCole
- Start date
The correct time to use striking is when using an HMI or discharge lamp that has an arc as looking into the light can damage your eyes.
For standard lights we just yell EYES in the industry
TheatrePros
Member
Heads for something that all you have time for is to cover your head...something big I yell Clear the Deck (if you have enough time to yell it) Only time I had to use it was when i had a stage hand unloading an arbor on a 90 ft load bridge and dropped a weight, hit enough batons on the way that everyone was able to jump into the house when they heard the call.
DuckJordan
Touring IATSE Member
Huh? I'd be surprised if someone's arm could have any effect whatsoever on a loaded arbor in free-fall, much less actually blocking it. Do you have spare arbors lying around the grid or something? Or did you mean to say stage weight or something? I'm confused.
It wasn't in our theater but it was an old arbor from when they re-did their system, they kept some of the old parts (no idea why). It was just a completely empty arbor that was stored up on the grid. Not sure why and now they don't store anything up on the grid or so my professor says, he went there for his grad degree then came here to teach.
Some commons from my neck of the woods...
"Heads or Head Up"...in the rare instance something gets dropped.
"CLEAR THE DECK!!!!" If in the rare instance we have a motor chain run or something major occur...pretty much means run...
The usual "Truss coming in" or "Pipe /lineset #/ Electric coming in--<reply from deck repeating what we said>" before doing anything.
For Fly's---"Loading / Unloading" when slinging steel or lead.
"Locked / Dogged!" when we lock or dog a lineset.
"Hands on" if we need help on a fly line coming in via bull line or if it needs to be sat on while its unloaded etc... "HANDS, or HANDS ON" is also used if unloading a truck and we need lots of people on a heavy or delicate item.
"Behind You" or "HEAVY-Coming thru" when pushing cases or carrying sets thru a lot of people...
When working with motors--"Chain MOVING"...
"Woof!"/ "Spike" or "deck" when calling in things and they reach their mark or spike.
"Working Overhead" when...well working overhead....
"Loose overhead" when we have tiny items not secured overhead that could fall...
"Coming IN" when descending in a genie..
"Going UP" when ascending in a genie...
"MOVING!" when driving the scissor or pushing someone in a genie. Plus we have an annoying ear piercing horn on our scissor if folks don't get out of the way...
"STOP" or "HOLD" to get someone to freeze or stop what they are doing...
The lists go on.... Typically ONE SYLLABLE or simple words which can be shouted & enunciated without many consonants describing things tend to work well in most situations..
"Heads or Head Up"...in the rare instance something gets dropped.
"CLEAR THE DECK!!!!" If in the rare instance we have a motor chain run or something major occur...pretty much means run...
The usual "Truss coming in" or "Pipe /lineset #/ Electric coming in--<reply from deck repeating what we said>" before doing anything.
For Fly's---"Loading / Unloading" when slinging steel or lead.
"Locked / Dogged!" when we lock or dog a lineset.
"Hands on" if we need help on a fly line coming in via bull line or if it needs to be sat on while its unloaded etc... "HANDS, or HANDS ON" is also used if unloading a truck and we need lots of people on a heavy or delicate item.
"Behind You" or "HEAVY-Coming thru" when pushing cases or carrying sets thru a lot of people...
When working with motors--"Chain MOVING"...
"Woof!"/ "Spike" or "deck" when calling in things and they reach their mark or spike.
"Working Overhead" when...well working overhead....
"Loose overhead" when we have tiny items not secured overhead that could fall...
"Coming IN" when descending in a genie..
"Going UP" when ascending in a genie...
"MOVING!" when driving the scissor or pushing someone in a genie. Plus we have an annoying ear piercing horn on our scissor if folks don't get out of the way...
"STOP" or "HOLD" to get someone to freeze or stop what they are doing...
The lists go on.... Typically ONE SYLLABLE or simple words which can be shouted & enunciated without many consonants describing things tend to work well in most situations..
I've seen more problems because of someone saying that than, "heads." "Heads," means run and cover your head. "Well that's not supposed to happen...," and "Uh-oh," seem to mean, "come over and look at what happened."
Here's an important question, for those of us who work with non-theatre people (or new comers) on a frequent basis, do you give a quick safety talk to everyone, do you cover things like "heads" or "clear the deck," though "clear the deck is fairly self explanatory. What about for new comers to the craft, such as students, how do you engrain the meanings of things like "heads" into their brains? It's one thing to know you're supposed run away from the source covering your head, and it's another to actually do it without thinking/looking up. Anyone drill their students on this? What about "clear the stage," does anyone make known the safest spots to clear to if you are in an area, or how to do it without thinking? What about if you have an orchestra pit, is there a rule that you never clear in the direction of it (incase it's down and you don't realize it until too late) or do you just say, run away from the source as fast as you can. What about those carrying large equipment, when they here a "heads" or a "clear the stage" call, what are they supposed to do with the equipment? Are they supposed to drop/toss it, carry it, set it down and then run, etc? Have they been told to do so? What if it turns out someone only dropped a washer/nut, not a hammer, are the guys that tossed the Hog aside going to now be in trouble for attempting to save themselves? What about the person that yelled "heads," is he responsible for not calling out that it was a washer and not a hammer? You can hear the impending stage weight on its way down, you won't hear a nut or a hammer until it's too late. Lots of discussion and questions to be had in this area.
What about mid-show problems, say the ASM sees a fresnel lens housing slip and open up (we'll say there's a barn door too and whether or not it is secured is unknown), what is the young ASM supposed to do? Have you covered it with them?
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You didn't strike out, I actually laughed (and snickered in "fond" memories) the first time I read it.
But what you said is very true, that "Uh-oh" is usually said at larger problems or something expensive broke, and I've experienced that whenever someone says it, everyone that heard either freezes and looks to the person to ask what happened, or will head over to the source and see what was up, instead of thinking that they may want to get away from the source.
Well...yea, we're live event technicians, not bomb squad technicians.
Dionysus
Well-Known Member
"Heads!" is the standard everywhere I've worked, anything else just won't do IMO. It is quick to say, most anyone knows what it means, and it has urgency to it.
I second calls like "Loud Noise!" or such. Of course calls like "loose tool overhead, upstage" are as useful as "Swinging cable Stage Left!", "Loose Hardware" and "Line coming in!".
I have a rule that I really like, "If you drop something and don't call heads before it hits the floor or a person below, you owe the people on the ground. If you hit someone you owe them, and if you don't call things in general". Usually I use beer or coffee as payment, so if I don't call a line coming in or heads, and bring in a line and it hits you on the head I'll buy you three drinks! If its a batten coming in, you'd better call it indeed.
During one teardown in particular back in college I got hit in the head with a cheeseborugh that was not installed correctly. When the person above unhooked one side while I had ahold of the vertical pipe, the side of the clamp attached to the grid let loose and smaked me. This is why you wear hardhats! It saved me! After hitting my hardhat it hit my shoulder and hurt enough. But I kept a hold of that pipe lest it cause a LOT of damage. She was so sorry she bought me 4 pints of Guinness, I gave her a hug and let her know it was not her fault.
It is very important for people in the air to have clear communication to those on the ground. They may be clueless to the fact that something may hit them.
I second calls like "Loud Noise!" or such. Of course calls like "loose tool overhead, upstage" are as useful as "Swinging cable Stage Left!", "Loose Hardware" and "Line coming in!".
I have a rule that I really like, "If you drop something and don't call heads before it hits the floor or a person below, you owe the people on the ground. If you hit someone you owe them, and if you don't call things in general". Usually I use beer or coffee as payment, so if I don't call a line coming in or heads, and bring in a line and it hits you on the head I'll buy you three drinks! If its a batten coming in, you'd better call it indeed.
During one teardown in particular back in college I got hit in the head with a cheeseborugh that was not installed correctly. When the person above unhooked one side while I had ahold of the vertical pipe, the side of the clamp attached to the grid let loose and smaked me. This is why you wear hardhats! It saved me! After hitting my hardhat it hit my shoulder and hurt enough. But I kept a hold of that pipe lest it cause a LOT of damage. She was so sorry she bought me 4 pints of Guinness, I gave her a hug and let her know it was not her fault.
It is very important for people in the air to have clear communication to those on the ground. They may be clueless to the fact that something may hit them.
Blacksheep0317
Active Member
Heads always..
But that being said, as a rigger you should never need this word. Everything thing on your person should be attached somewhere with a lanyard be it a wrench, drift pin, etc. Anything else (like that shackle your trying to secure to the point that you just hauled up), learn to hold on. Chain drops kill people, shackle drops kill people, and I really dont care what you yell.. When your on the high steel in an arena over 200 people on the floor, you wont be heard.
Sorry..just a bitter thought and a reminder that your only as safe as your prevention.
But that being said, as a rigger you should never need this word. Everything thing on your person should be attached somewhere with a lanyard be it a wrench, drift pin, etc. Anything else (like that shackle your trying to secure to the point that you just hauled up), learn to hold on. Chain drops kill people, shackle drops kill people, and I really dont care what you yell.. When your on the high steel in an arena over 200 people on the floor, you wont be heard.
Sorry..just a bitter thought and a reminder that your only as safe as your prevention.
I agree with Blacksheep, but whenever we have someone up in the air we try to keep the stage as quiet as possible, so everyone knows what is going on.
A couple other courtesy calls we use during rehearsals:
"Hold please/please hold": to stop to make a fix
"STOP!": when someone or something is in danger
A couple other courtesy calls we use during rehearsals:
"Hold please/please hold": to stop to make a fix
"STOP!": when someone or something is in danger
CSCTech
Active Member
Well, I cant say much for this thread as we A) Don't have an arial lift to go up in. B) Have no loading decks etc. C) Only have 7 line sets all of which are half flys (Never knew the real term for them..They are short, and trim is pretty much all the way out.). So we don't need to worry about heads much. Also our FOH position of over seats which can only be gotten too with a ladder, so its pretty much impossible for anyone to be below.
But, I do like to call "Darkness" before shutting off work lights, because im lazy and like to limit my trips back and forth from booth to stage Plus the random screaming for no reason got me into announcing it, I say random because usually there is plenty of light from the house. But hey, it's high school theatre
Also loud noise has been used here and there. (Assuming this is the literal meaning)
But, I do like to call "Darkness" before shutting off work lights, because im lazy and like to limit my trips back and forth from booth to stage
Plus the random screaming for no reason got me into announcing it, I say random because usually there is plenty of light from the house. But hey, it's high school theatre Also loud noise has been used here and there. (Assuming this is the literal meaning)
1troubledouble1
Member
"Heads!"-Duck and Cover
"Noise!"-When dropping something that makes a loud noise.
"Going Dark"-Blackout
Incidentally in Tech Class, we had a kid up in the catwalks hanging lights, and he accidentally dropped his wrench. He yelled heads, but the girl below didn't hear and ended up getting smacked in the head with a wrench from about 25 ft.
"Noise!"-When dropping something that makes a loud noise.
"Going Dark"-Blackout
Incidentally in Tech Class, we had a kid up in the catwalks hanging lights, and he accidentally dropped his wrench. He yelled heads, but the girl below didn't hear and ended up getting smacked in the head with a wrench from about 25 ft.
shiben
Well-Known Member
This happened to my boss once, a 100' or so chain got dropped about 5' away from him on a call... Nearly killed another guy who was closer... Someone never worked in our local again.
On a side note, I saw on World's Toughest fixes how when they are fixing 2000' towers and the like, they call "Headache" into the radio, and everyone on the ground runs to the tower. It didnt look like any of their tools were on lanyards either. Probably something to do with having a significant amount of time for an object to fall nearly half a mile... Theres a job that I dont think I could do.
Esoteric
Well-Known Member
Two things.
1. Accidents sometimes still happen. Had a rigger I was learning with that had his wrench secured to himself, but the line broke and when he took it out, he fumbled it and dropped it to the arena floor.
2. I was almost hurt very badly by a shackle that someone let swing without calling it from the top of a Cirque tent during the Allegria load in. It swung about 3" in front of my face as I was rolling a case up the ramp. Guy behind me ran his case up onto my heels because I stopped.
