A risk
assessment is a careful examination of the making of the production and what could
potentially cause harm to anyone involved. The primary purpose of the risk
assessment is to enable the production team to establish exactly where the
risks lie and what precautions need to be taken in order to avoid them. All workers
have a right to be protected from harm caused by a failure to take reasonable
control measures. Accidents and ill health can have a very negative effect on a
business if output is lost as a result of accidents occurring due to the
correct precautions not being carried out, if machinery is damaged, insurance
costs increase or you have to go to court. It is a legal requirement for
businesses assesses the risks in their workplace so that they can put in place
a plan to control the risks factoring in any potential hazards. With the
production of ‘Fallen Grace’ we noted the potential hazards in the filming of
each scene.
The house party scene
There are a few
potential risks with the party scene but they can be avoided with careful
planning. One main risk is with the setting up the crane, this is due to the
fact that after rainfall the balcony becomes quite slippery and handling a
heavy piece of equipment like a crane will be quite dangerous, however it is
easily manageable when two people set up the equipment slowly and carefully to
avoid all risks even if the balcony is wet. Although the apartment isn’t
particularly high up, the balcony is over ten feet above the car park, meaning
that if a member of the cast or crew were to fall off they could be seriously
injured. We intend to avoid this risk by only allowing the crew out onto the
balcony (limiting the amount of people on the balcony) and staying away from
the railings. The railings are quite high and the chance of anyone falling
through or over them is very small; however we want to eliminate any potential
risks. Other than this there aren’t too many potential hazards. There will be the
use of party poppers in which people could cause harm to other artists if they
make contact with their face but this is very unlikely and is avoidable through
simply being careful and making sure there is no one directly opposite when
firing.
The basement scene
In the
basement scene the potential risks are the following, when Clare is tied up we
have to make sure that the rags aren’t too tight so our actress will feel
comfortable and there are no chances of her having difficulty breathing or
encountering problems with her blood circulation. Also part of the makeup involves the use of wax
which will give a realistic blood effect, Clare will have to avoid this
touching her hair as it will stick and cause irritation. We can avoid this by taking extreme precaution
to ensure Clare’s hair doesn’t make contact with the wax. The steps leading
down to the basement are quite steep, this creates a hazard as, if a member of
our cast or crew were to fall down the stairs they could potentially be
seriously injured, we can avoid this hazard by each going down the stairs one
at a time, taking our time and watching where we step, this will be especially
important when handling equipment.
The field and woods scenes
The
potential risks we could encounter in the field and wood scenes are also fairly
minimal excluding the possibility of it raining and the equipment getting wet,
potentially causing damage which will be very costly and jeopardise the rest of
the production. However it can easily be avoided as we have planned the filming
after checking the weather forecast for a suitable day when there will be no
weather hazards. The woods we are planning on filming in are quite dense so
there is the potential for our artists to catch themselves on the branches
resulting in minor injury; we can avoid this by informing our artists to extra
cautious when walking and running through the woods. The ground is also quite
uneven, if our artists are running over it there is the potential for them to
trip up and twist their ankle or fall down and injure themselves, we can reduce
this hazard by cautioning our artists about the uneven surface so they are
careful and the risk of injury is reduced.
The classroom scene
The risks
that could occur in the classroom scene are fairly minimal as we will be in a
safe environment of a school which has regularly building regulation tests to
ensure the safety of the pupils because of this there is only one major risk,
this is in the scene where Sophie who plays Zara throws furniture around the
room, this could cause injuring to any members of the cast or crew that become
too close. This can be avoided by the cast and crew keeping a safe distance
when the furniture is being thrown. There are of course other risks that apply
to every scene that we film such as the wires from all the equipment could be
potential tripping hazards, we can reduce this risk by using gaffer tape to
tape down any wires that are lying around and also making sure they are kept
well away from our artists to reduce the chances of someone tripping over the
wire.
The explosions
By far the
scene with the most potential risks is the explosion scene, as we are working
with explosives, the dangers are quite clear as there is the potential for our
actors or crew being burned or injured by the heat and the force of the
explosion. We have arranged to film the explosions with an explosives expert
‘Ted Lewis’. Ted is a fully licensed professional working with explosives under
his company name ‘Lancashire Militia’.
Lancashire Militia specialise in creating explosions for civil war
re-enactments and pirate events. We are fully confident that by working with a
licensed professional like Ted will ensure we take the necessary precautions to
avoid harm to anyone involved. Some of these precautions include: Only, Ted and
anyone carrying a licence can touch or be within a certain distance of the
explosives, Our only roles in the explosion filming will be to film the
explosion (from a safe distance) and direct by explaining to Ted what we would
like the explosion to look like so he can organise and detonate the explosion
himself.
In
conclusion all the risks in these four scenes are relatively small however if
not taken seriously, we could have some consequences, we plan to take the right
steps and methods to avoid all possible problems to ensure that throughout the
production no one is injured and no
equipment is damaged.
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