1.3 - Describe the key aspects of health and safety when working on film productions

What needs to be considered in terms of health and safety when working on a film production?

There are a number of health and safety precautions that need to be taken into account when working on a film production. Risk Assessments must be carried out in order to make sure shooting locations for example, are safe to film scenes or carry out stunts in. If accidents do occur on-set once the risk assessments have been carried out, then they must be reported on so that no further difficulties with injury claims can be wrongfully filed. 

In terms of the set itself, equipment must be checked in order to make sure it is not hazardous and is safe for use. For example, the set should be checked for trip hazards from wires so that they can then be removed before work commences. Lighting is also potentially hazardous equipment that must be kept stable, under control in terms of heat and in full working order to avoid any electrical faults that could lead to fatal injuries. Lifting heavy equipment also needs to be considered as it can lead to longer-term injuries as well as short term ones, and so requires handling training. In terms of personal safety, it is easy to become fatigued when working long hours. This can lead to potentially dangerous mistakes to be made as a result of fatigue and so regular breaks should be taken. 

Stunts are one of the biggest potential pitfalls in health and safety and must be checked meticulously before being carried out on a film production. They have to be checked and tested multiple times to check they are viable. 

What can be put in place to ensure health and safety risks are minimized?

There are a number of measures that can be put in place to minimise health and safety risks. As mentioned previously, risk assessments should be carried out to reduce health and safety risks and check that a location is safe enough for filming. It is also important that regular breaks are given in order to give crew members time for relaxation as opposed to them being too exhausted to do their job properly, which could lead to accidents taking place. In the case of an injury occurring, it is important to have first aiders on hand in order to swiftly deal with these injuries, minor and major, so that the injuries do not get any worse. It also gives time for emergency services to reach the injured person if necessary. Following this, an accident report needs to be completed so that measures can be taken to ensure that a specific injury does not happen to any other members of the crew. 

Additionally, safety equipment should be installed to minimize health and safety risks. This is in order to prevent any malfunctions in filming equipment that could result in potential accidents and to keep everything as safe as is viably possible. Furthermore, all equipment on the set should be regularly checked by a certified official so that it is confirmed to be safe for use and again will not result in any accidents.

Upload an example of a risk assessment that would have been used in the production week.

One example of a risk assessment used in production week could be considering the risks that could arise from shooting on location as we did. We shot out in Colemere on several occasions during the week and with this came the potential implication of tripping, slipping and any other possible injuries that could come with the use of some heavy filming equipment. While the likelihood of this is low, the severity could be very high so this potential had to be controlled. One method of control was briefing us on safety precautions before filming began so that we were aware of any risks so that we could avoid them ourselves.  The location was also scouted and researched to make sure it was practical and safe for us to shoot on, for example, making sure it was flat and had suitable space for equipment. Also, when using the lights, heat resistant clothing was encouraged in order to make sure there was no risk of fire.