Theatre health and safety

This page will help people who run theatres to control the risks to those working on productions or attending them.

Health and safety law applies to theatres as it does to other businesses. 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.

The majority of injuries in the theatre industry are related to work at height and manual handling.

Individual legal duties

There are legal duties on:

employers
employees
the self-employed (freelance)
people in charge of premises

Employers

Employers must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees, while not exposing others to health and safety risks. As an employer, you must have systems in place to ensure the risks presented by the work are assessed and either eliminated or controlled. There are a number of ways this can be done.

You can find more guidance on health and safety basics for your business.

Employees

Employees can expect their employers to take all reasonably practicable measures to ensure they can work without risk. Employees then have a duty to work carefully and co-operate with their employer to make sure both are complying with their respective legal duties.

The self-employed (freelance)

Self-employed people have duties to ensure they work safely so that their activities do not create risk to themselves or others. Remember, 'self- employed' has a different meaning in health and safety matters to that used in tax matters. Both employers and the self-employed should make sure they know their legal status and obligations under health and safety law.

You can find general information on when health and safety law applies to self-employed workers.

A person in charge of premises

Any person who allows people not employed by them to work in premises, such as a theatre, has duties to make sure:

the means of getting in and out are safe
all plant and equipment within the premises is safe and does not present a risk to health. This includes the electricity/gas and water supplies etc

Work at height

Selection of equipment for work at height in theatres should follow the hierarchy shown in Regulations 6 and 7 of the Work at Height Regulations (on legislation.gov.uk). Depending on individual circumstances, here are examples of reasonably practicable methods for working at height in theatres that follow that hierarchy:

do not work at height – use auto focus or bounce focus lights, bring scenery items down to ground level for adjustment etc
work from an existing place of work – use gantries, bridges or catwalks, a trampoline system etc
work positioning – use fixed length lines to prevent falls, mobile elevating work platforms (MEWPs) and mobile towers etc
fall mitigation – use airbags, nets, inertia reel harnesses (which require a rescue plan)
systems of work – use ladders, tallescopes, zarges etc

Rescuing people who are stuck or incapacitated

If you need to have people working at height then you must have a system in place to get them safely to the ground yourself, if necessary. Bear in mind that the person may be unconscious, there may be no electricity, or there could be a fire etc.

If the fire and rescue service are available they will most likely assist but you must assume they may not be and plan accordingly.

Safety bonding to avoid falling objects

The Work at Height Regulations require employers to take steps to ensure people can't be hurt by falling objects. This involves assessing the risks and taking action to control them. If the theatre's risk assessment suggests this is best managed with steel wire rather than chain then they have a duty to implement that control. Employees must co-operate with their employer to ensure they can comply with their duties.

Neither power cables nor connectors in a rig can act as secondary bonding as they have not been designed or tested to ensure they can take the weight of a lamp as a shock load. This is particularly important for the cable as it may suffer internal damage, not visible within the insulation, that could lead to a dangerous condition.

Find out more

Inspecting fall arrest equipment made from webbing or rope

Use of tallescopes

Under the hierarchy of methods for working at height, you are expected to use the safest reasonably practicable method, and there are safer ways of working at height than using a tallescope.

Advice on training and the use of tallescopes can be obtained from the manufacturer or from the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT).

ABTT have a code of practice for the use of tallescopes for working at height in theatres. Local authorities can email them at [email protected] to request a copy, including their full name and official address.

HSE strongly recommends that users follow this guidance and the system of work it outlines when using this equipment and will continue to support enforcement action where necessary to ensure tallescopes are used safely.

Members of the Joint Advisory Committee for Entertainments (JACE) may also request copies by emailing [email protected] and including their full name, job title and official address.

The ABTT code of practice includes the requirement for modifying tallescopes. The modifications come as a kit of parts which the manufacturers supply as a kit. The kit includes:

a second pair of outriggers (4 fitted in total)
a set of 4 castor wheels which do not 'lift' when the brake is applied
a set of 4 pushing bar extensions which stand vertically at the 4 corners of the base frame

There may be circumstances when moving an occupied tallescope may be justified but these are very rare, and even then only in accordance with a system of work.

Research reports

Controlling noise

Ear protection for employees

Whether self-employed artists use hearing protection depends on their own risk assessment but, as an employer, you are responsible for ensuring your employees are not exposed to levels of noise that may damage their hearing.

You must assess the noise levels and decide on methods to control the risk. If you decide that personal protective equipment, such as hearing protection, should be one of those methods then you must provide and pay for it. You can find information in Sound advice: control of noise at work in music and entertainment.

Members of the audience

The Noise at Work Regulations apply only to people working in the venue so they will not apply to members of the audience.

Manual handling

There is a large amount of manual handling involved in theatres, especially for travelling shows. Many loads are awkwardly shaped, heavy and often difficult to move in sometimes very confined spaces.

This movement is often also done under time pressure. More than a third of the injuries reported annually to HSE are related to manual handling. These tend to be long-term injuries, which can have serious implications for those involved. Reducing the amount and severity of manual handling is a legal obligation.

You can find more information on manual handling at work.

Find out more

The following guidance may help you control risks in TV and film production: