(Clare, Michigan) - Not only does our primary stage deck and crowd control barricade supplier StageRight put out the ultimate product (we own, and constantly buy more of their stuff than anyone else's) - they've been putting out some great content on their blog recently. For anyone in the Event Production industry, we'd suggest subscribing to their blog for great #protips.
The recent post, "The Ultimate Stage Safety Checklist" is one to bookmark. Here's a quick intro; hit the link for the rest:
There’s a lot that goes into ensuring that you have a safe performance area. Regardless of the venue, application, or type of stage you have, the guidelines for making sure it’s safe remain the same.
Every single part of the space can play a part in optimizing safety, so it’s important that nothing gets overlooked.
Regardless of if you’re a church, school, theatre, community center, or production company, this post will outline the four areas you need to be looking at to make sure your events are as safe as possible.
As a Producer/TD/PM and stage manager from events as far as Costa Rica's Envision Festival to Burning Man, I even have a few more to add:
- Always ensure that gaff tape spikes from previous event are removed; do it before the tour manager asks you to
- Check your stair and guardrail bolts; crank those down right before a performance
- Always keep two rolls of gaff nearby and keep an eye on them to tape down new cords that arrive on your stage; they're eaten quickly by the same monsters that eat lost socks
- Don't ever underestimate the propensity for fans to try to climb on a stage to "be one" with your performers; best bet for this is a line of "Crash Barricade" and some good security
- Someone at your event should be crowd safety certified; events are now required to have one per 250 attendees for events over 1000
- Level the stage correctly when building; you never know when C3P0 is going to be walking on it and trip on a 1/16" difference between decks in his robot suit
- In some regions, ADA access is required regardless of attendees; contact us here at PM1 to add ramps, double-switchback ramps, or elevators for stage access for your patrons with wheelchairs or that can't negotiate stairs, (StageRight makes some amazing products for this that we use daily!)
- There are right and wrong ways to build stages; if you're unsure, contact us and we'll tell you how for free - don't be the production that didn't ask!
Be safe out there!
