“To answer that question, it is probably easier to look at where problems lie and explore why current accepted practice is not necessarily best practice. Generally the industry has a good reported safety record as far as electrical injuries are concerned but few can honestly say that they have not had an electric shock or do not know of someone who has. Equally most will have seen burnt-out electrical equipment, the cause of which is as likely to be bad design as it is component failure. In most cases it is purely good luck that these incidents do not result in injury and typically embarrassment over the (often elementary) mistake by the recipient has precluded them being reported appropriately.

The industry itself has developed good and robust electrical distribution equipment capable of withstanding the arduous conditions that touring puts it through while facilitating rapid set up in a ‘plug and play’ fashion. This though has led to a level of complacency which has increased the risk of shock and fire with regard to the design of such systems. For example, cables and connectors are considered as being capable of delivering their rated load – e.g. a 63A single phase cable/connector assembly can deliver a maximum current of 63A, which is not always the case.

RCDs and other circuit protective devices in distribution equipment are often considered a ‘panacea’ in many cases for fault and shock protection, but an incorrectly designed or deployed system may render such protection void or give rise to ‘nuisance’ tripping. The plethora of electronic equipment has also given rise to issues with the design and operation of temporary systems. Large lighting rigs have few simple incandescent loads these days with the bulk of the lighting rig being made up of moving lights or LEDs with Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS), with attendant problems in correctly setting up RCD protection caused by leakage currents as well as power quality issues such as high harmonic currents. Harmonic neutral currents give rise to overheating and again most techs will have experienced, or know of, and event where the neutral has failed.

As you probably know there is a growing impetus behind ensuring the electrical safety of events brought about largely by the introduction of the revised BS 7909 – Code of Practice for temporary electrical systems at events. While broadcasters (in particular Sky and the BBC) have been working hard at ensuring their OBs and general shoots (and hence subcontractors) work in accordance with the standard, the events industry at large is slow to catch up.

We know there is nothing new in that, and as an industry we have been keeping our head low and just getting on with life – thankfully without significant electrical incident, or at least publicly so. The culture though of ‘plug and play’ mains distro equipment leads us into a false sense of security as people tend not to think about what they are actually doing – a recent example of this was an event that I went to inspect that had (amongst other things) a long 32A cable feeding a couple of lights in a building. The load was only in the order of around 10A, but given the length of the cable had one of the lights suffered a complete short circuit and started burning, the circuit breakers would have taken several minutes to trip by which time the light could have set fire to the carpet. Also the voltage at the light was about 180V so perhaps unsurprisingly the lighting company had already replaced one ballast that had died.

BS 7671 has, in Part 1, some fundamental principles and amongst others states that an electrical system should not cause a fire or electric shock. The rest of the standard shows the reader how to achieve that. Also BS 7671 is not for houses and commercial installations as is often believed, it is for all electrical installations with a few exceptions such as mines or boats. It makes no distinction between a temporary and a permanent installation in that respect and the fundamental requirements are pretty basic aims regardless of the nature of the actual system.

Another area widely misunderstood is that of earthing temporary systems – it is often not known when it is necessary to put a spike down or when to join the earths of different supplies together such as when operating generator fed equipment inside a building for example. Even the concept of bonding metalwork such as stages to the main earthing terminal of the supply is often misunderstood. For the most part though, poor earthing practices just result in equipment failure or interference problems such as erratic DMX, hum on audio systems or fuzzy video pictures. However depending on circumstances, it is foreseeable (and not unknown) for all exposed metalwork to reach mains potential.

While BS 7909 is evidently not law and not a ‘requirement’, compliance with the Electricity at Work Regulations is and in the event of an electrical incident such as a shock or fire, 7909 may well be cited in the aftermath along with the IET Wiring Requirements (BS 7671), which references BS 7909 for event power distribution systems. There is a common misconception that site electrics should be done to BS 7909, not BS 7671. It is not an ‘either/or’ case – systems should be designed in accordance with 7671, and deployed, managed and tested in accordance with 7909. Both standards cross reference each other in that respect. And dare it be said, learning how to apply them might require a bit of a culture change within our industry.”

His advice to people trying to get into the industry is: “Pay attention to how things are done and be keen to learn – always ask if unsure – but don’t believe everything you are told. Know your limits (physically and intellectually) – turn up and be ready at least 15 minutes before the call-time – as you do progress, and start to shoulder some responsibility, be ready to say no to powerful people; they’ll respect you for it in the long term even if you’re in an awkward position at the time. You are always in the front line when something goes wrong, even if you’ve done all your tasks properly; so you do have a responsibility if you see other departments doing questionable work below your own installation. Tact and diplomacy are valuable tools here, but sometimes you must be firm too.”

To read the full interview, visit the TPi Magazine website: http://www.tpimagazine.com/interviews/1097289/rigging_credentials_with_eric_porter.html

Enjoy!

Our next Rigging Course with Eric Porter is on 19th January 2012. Email enquiries@backstage-academy.co.uk to book, or visit the website for more info: www.backstage-academy.co.uk.

There’s no winding down before the Christmas break though – they’re off to do their IPAF 3a Mobile Vertical Powered Access training tomorrow!

Tutor and Backstage Academy CEO Rory Perrett gave us this report on a snapshot from the first module where students are introduced to the idea of becoming a freelancer or setting up their own business. We have great relationships with many companies in the industry, and support our students in finding work during and after the course, but we also recognise that the majority of people will undertake freelance work at some point in their career in the events production industry.

Over to Rory…

“Last week our students were looking at Enterprise, Business Start-up and Working Freelance. While learning about how to set up a business, legal structures, finance, etc are a long way removed from most of the content of the Live Events Production FdA at Backstage, it is vital knowledge for those that are going to work freelance or set up their own company. Ok, so it’s not as exciting as the Pyrotechnics or Rigging courses but if you are going to be successful you need to know these things!

Self employment and working freelance is quite usual in the events and entertainments industry and this is where over 75% of our students see their future. To start off with we had a look at what level of income students thought they needed to survive on, quite scary when you start adding up housing, transport, food and phone costs, and these guys are not looking to support lavish lifestyles. A sound understanding of their personal income needs is the starting point for sensible and realistic job costing.

Some students are already running their own businesses and they took the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of various structures; sole trader versus Ltd company and the implications of partnerships.

Splitting into groups to create and submit a quotation for the provision and management of a small stage for a bank holiday music festival brought out the competitive instinct with each group looking to provide the best package for a keen price.  This scenario got them really thinking as to what a job would cost them to deliver and led neatly into looking at turnover, profit and cash flow and the importance of each to a sustainable business.

This early in the course it may seem a little strange to be looking at the world of work and how the students will be earning their living after they have completed the course and have qualified, but it is never too early to start planning and laying the foundations for the future. Over the next year or so, students will be able to develop their business ideas and we will be here to help and support them all the way to realising their dreams.

We will be supporting ex-students and industry professionals in all employment matters in the near future via our Institute of Backstage Arts. So watch this space!”

1. What was your first job in this industry?

We had over 250 people registering interest in various courses throughout the four days of the show, with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and stages in their careers. There was a lot of positive feedback about the foundation degree in Live Events Production, revolving around the industry focus.

Likewise, the Backstage Academy caught the eye of many of the big names in the industry, with over 60 partners being established to develop content and links to the courses we already run, and will hopefully develop in the very near future.

Lots of interest on the Backstage Academy stand...

There was a big push on training for the industry at this year’s event, and as such Backstage is well primed to serve this area, with courses supporting many aspects of the industry already. The ABTT announced a Skills Passport that logs all training and qualifications of an individual on an electronic system, along with other requirements for working in the industry including insurance and such like, which is something that will benefit those people delivering training as well as those working in the field. Plasa included a schedule of seminars and workshops over the four days, again demonstrating the growing commitment to training that the industry is developing.

Throughout Plasa 2011, the Backstage Academy re-affirmed it’s growing profile as the industry’s major player in training for the live events industry. Backstage has a lot of support from individuals, organisations and companies within the industry, and the next few months look as though they could be very busy!

The waiting is over. Students up and down the country have been put out of their collective misery and have finally been given their A-level results after weeks of nervous anticipation. But for some, the misery continues as according to The Telegraph, five students competed for every spare university place yesterday, leaving unprecedented numbers disappointed.And the cause for this mass scramble for places? The impending hike in tuition fees from £3,290 to up to £9,000, which comes into effect in 2012. But there are other options out there for students keen to move into higher education and a three-year degree is not the only choice. Courses like our fast-track foundation degree in Live Events Production offer exceptional value for money as the modules are condensed into 15 months of intensive learning. This means that rather than prolonging their studies over the usual two years required for a foundation degree and incurring the full cost of tuition fees for this period as well as living expenses, students can be qualified and ready to work in little more than the space of a year. We are also considering the introduction of a BA, which would potentially mean just one more year of further study for those who successfully complete the foundation degree.

There are also innumerable benefits to studying a vocational course like Live Events Production over a traditional degree subject that has not been tailored to meet the needs of a specific industry. Our intention is to provide our students with the technical and creative skills they need to work in the live events industry, helping them to make a smooth transition from studying to working.

Our message to students out there who are still looking to secure a university place is simply to make sure you look at the full range of courses available and to take into consideration the advantages that some courses can offer you when it comes to employment. University isn’t just about getting an education anymore; it’s also about getting the career you want at the end of it.

In case you’re interested, we’re holding an open day for our foundation degree on Saturday 20 August. We’ll be able to tell you more about the course and you’ll also have the opportunity for an interview if you wish.

Adrian Brooks, managing director of LS-Live and live events industry veteran, founded the Academy earlier this year to help meet the needs of the industry for work-ready recruits. Astonishingly, despite high levels of unemployment in other sectors, the live events industry faces a shortage of 30,000 skilled backstage and offstage technical staff. We’re hoping to use the Backstage Academy to reduce this shortage by encouraging our students to pursue careers in this sector and by making sure they have the right skills to succeed. We’ll be helping those already working in the sector to keep up-to-date with changing technology and relevant industry qualifications too.

But we’re not only about live events. We also have Apple courses to suit every ability and level of interest, from beginners to hardcore enthusiasts eager to further hone their skills under the guidance of an Apple certified master trainer.

We hope you’ll enjoy our blog and maybe even find it useful! We want to hear from you so please feel free to leave comments on any of our posts. You can also follow us on Twitter or join us on Facebook.

If you would like to find out more about any of our courses then just click here or call 01977 659 880.