The Mark Milsome Foundation - Film and TV Online Safety Passport Course

10 videos, 1 hour and 14 minutes

Course Content

Risk Assessment and Management

Video 3 of 10
6 min 37 sec
English
English
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A Risk Assessment is a careful examination and assessment of what can cause injury, damage or loss in the work place. This includes all areas of the production including all activities, tasks, action, equipment, location. It should be undertaken by people who understand the production process and are able to identify hazards around all aspects of production. It should also involve the people who are responsible for controlling and making the decisions for the production. The Risk Assessment findings and recommendations will be circulated in the form of a report in advance of the day and will be included on the call sheet. Risk Assessment could cover any number of issues from serving hot drinks on a night shoot to filming with animals, stunts or location risks.

The assessments assist you in working safely within your role and within the activities you are carrying out. On the day, you should familiarise yourself with your surroundings and remain vigilant as you work in this new environment, often with new crew. You should be constantly checking that the work you are doing and the work others are doing is creating no hazardous situations.

Officially a hazard is anything with the potential to cause ‘HARM’. RISK is the potential for the HARM presented by the hazard to be realised, based on severity and likelihood. Consequence of harm, injury, damage or loss can range from an hour off work to the end of a career or the production being shut down.

Hazards can be listed under four categories. Materials (Paints, chemicals, vapours glues dust, sand, sawdust etc), Environment, (low light levels, a derelict building, asbestos, high volume on a rock video, excessive temperatures, humidity, etc) Equipment (fit for purpose, regularly maintained, must not interfere with the working environment ie blocking or reducing access to escape routes and fire exits). People (Anyone undertaking a task should be trained and qualified, competent and authorised.  They should be alert, not overtired to the extent that it affects their judgement). Be honest about your own training and experience. If you are asked to do something you do not feel confident of, if you are not qualified, you need to speak up.

Once a hazard has been identified and a list of controls have been agreed and noted on the Risk assessment, a risk rating is applied. This is usually shown as High, Medium or low risk. Work should not continue if a hazard has been identified as a high risk. A solution needs to be found to remove or neutralise any known hazards in advance of the shoot.

One of the most common causes of accidents is falling from height, either from scaffolding, ladders, scissor lift, cherry picker, false staircases. Always ensure sufficient safety controls are in place when working with any of these. The higher you go the greater the risk. The principles of risk management are to Eliminate, Reduce, Isolate or Control with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)  being used as a last resort for all hazards.

You need to ensure that you are aware of the legal Regulations that cover your work – for example Working at Height, Electricity at Work or Construction Design Management etc The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) website is a great resource for The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) and its many supporting Regulations. If you see something that looks dangerous or out of place – don’t try and fix it yourself if it is not within your own scope of work.  Instead, inform the person/s responsible immediately so that they can rectify the issue.