Company Role – Health and Safety

I took on the backstage role of being Health and Safety advocate for our group. This role includes assessing potential risks, ways to avoid them and ways to overcome the risk should it occur. The health and safety law applies to theatre as much as it applies to other businesses. You cannot put performers and audience in a position of danger from your artistic choices.
‘The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and related legislation places duties on employers, employees, the self-employed and those in control of premises.’ (HSE, 2015)
To do this role I had to produce a risk assessment for our location, any use of props and set and any personal risks that our actors may incur. This included looking at the rostrum we are using, and making sure it was visible. Taking the allergies of our cast into consideration when using edible food and most importantly the use of electronic cigarettes as these can be dangerous.