Health and Safety

Health and safety in media production means protecting anybody who might be put in danger by the work. This covers the crew, on-screen talent, contributors, clients, visitors and bystanders. A hazard is something that could cause harm; the risk is the chance of that harm happening and how serious it could be. Safety is not something you switch on when filming starts: it must be considered in every phase of a project.

All phases

In pre-production, planning and location checks help you spot hazards before anyone travels or lifts equipment. During production, filming and recording must be organised so that people are not put at risk. In post-production, editing and other computer work bring their own risks, such as eye strain or poor posture from long editing sessions. The producer’s responsibility therefore runs through the whole project, not only while the camera is rolling.

Employer duties

Businesses and employers have a legal duty to look after their workers and anyone else who may be affected by their work, including clients, visitors and members of the public. They must also provide health and safety training for staff in the procedures relevant to their work, so people know what to do rather than guessing. For example, a runner joining a small video company should be shown how to report a hazard and what to do if an area becomes unsafe, not just handed a clipboard.

Reducing risk sensibly

The aim is to reduce risk as far as is reasonably practicable. This means doing what is sensible and proportionate, not trying to remove every possible danger. A control is a precaution that lowers the chance of harm or the seriousness of it. Media producers must identify risks and put controls or precautions in place to reduce or eliminate them. For example, before recording an interview in a community centre, a producer might notice a portable heater placed next to a curtain and move it away from the fabric. The risk is reduced without cancelling the recording.

Media production happens in busy, unfamiliar places where people move fast and work long days. A hazard is anything with the potential to cause harm; the risk is the chance that harm actually happens.

Physical hazards

• Working at heights – on ladders or scaffolding, where a fall can break bones.
• Trip hazards from cables and equipment – leads and kit left where people walk.
• Slips, trips and falls – wet floors or uneven ground cause sprains and head injuries.
• Collisions – people, vehicles or moving kit crashing into each other.
• Electric shock or electrocution – damaged leads or water near power.
• Lifting or moving heavy equipment – carrying a rolled backdrop upstairs strains back and shoulder muscles.
• Firearms, stunts, vehicles and crashes, drowning – such as a scene filmed on a river bank.
• Blocked fire exits – boxes piled in front of a door trap people in a fire.
• Very hot or cold locations – heat exhaustion on a sunny parade, or hypothermia on a cold hillside.

Hazards that are not physical

The general public can cause harm too: excited fans may surge forward as a presenter interviews guests at an outdoor screening. Long working hours bring tiredness and exhaustion, and a tired crew member makes more mistakes and is more likely to injure themselves. Stress, anxiety or psychological harm can come from distressing content: an actor asked to perform a violent scene many times may feel real distress, so producers plan rest breaks and limit retakes of upsetting scenes.

People who may be harmed

Producers must think about every group, because a control that protects one person may not protect another: the production team from runners to camera crew, presenters, performers and supporting artists, contributors such as a member of the public being interviewed, audiences watching a studio recording, visitors and members of the public passing the location, children who may not understand warning signs, and people with disabilities who may need a different escape route or extra help.

Once hazards are identified, you put controls (precautions) in place. A good control makes an accident less likely or the harm less serious.

Heights, electricity and heavy kit

Working at heights, such as a camera on a raised platform, is controlled with safety barriers to reduce the chance of a fall, plus personal protective equipment (PPE) such as a hard hat for anyone working underneath.

Electrical risks are controlled by managing cables and choosing the location carefully. Wall sockets are safer than extension leads stretching across open floor, because there is less to trip over and less chance of damage.

For heavy equipment, set weight limits for one person, so heavier items become a two-person lift, and move very heavy kit on wheels or with a hoist rather than carrying it.

Slips, trips and movement

Carry out a location recce and allow time on arrival to walk the site, so loose flooring, low doorways and uneven ground are spotted before people carry kit. Wear suitable footwear: sturdy shoes with a good grip that cover the foot.

Avoid trailing cables; any cable that stays on the floor should be secured or covered so it cannot catch a foot. Film from a static position where possible; if the camera must move, a colleague walks ahead and calls out obstacles so the operator can watch the shot.

Vehicles, stunts and fatigue

Keep the walking route between the vehicle and the set separate from moving vehicles. Pick a firm, level, well-lit way in with clear edges and no steps, so everyone can reach the set safely, including wheelchair users and people with sight impairments. Control or stop public traffic while filming, use trained stunt performers for collisions, and manage fatigue with an agreed schedule that has realistic hours and breaks.

For a two-day garden centre shoot, controls could include barriers around the raised platform, lighting cases unloaded at the door so nothing heavy is carried across the site, a marshal stopping customer cars at the entrance, a level boardwalk over gravel, and a timetable with proper breaks.

Filming after dark brings health and safety problems a daytime shoot does not have. Tiredness, poor visibility, security and the noise you make all need planning before anyone arrives.

Risks that grow after dark

• Fatigue — cast and crew have often already worked a full day, so reactions slow and mistakes creep in.
• Reduced visibility — a torch flattens shadows, making kerbs and steps hard to judge, and someone in dark clothing is almost invisible to a driver. High-visibility vests and head torches help.
• Security — a camera bag or tripod left on a dark street with nobody beside it is easy to pick up and carry off.
• Noise and light — voices, a generator or a lamp shining into a bedroom window upset the people living nearby.

Planning the shift

Work out journey times first. Check the last bus or train, and pay for taxis or overnight accommodation when the trip home is long, so nobody drives back exhausted.

Schedule higher-risk activity early, while everyone is alert. A stunt, or an actor working up a ladder, does not belong in the last hour.

People who work nights regularly can be asked to complete a health assessment questionnaire, so the producer knows about anything that tiredness could make worse.

Site and neighbours

• Keep the filming area clear of equipment and cables, and mark a lit route between the set and the car park.
• Tell the police or the local authority the dates and times you will be on site, take their security advice, and park vehicles in a secure, lit car park.
• Brief the whole cast and crew on the hazards at the start of the night.
• Keep noise to a minimum, and consider how long you record for — a shorter session disturbs residents far less. Agree a finishing time and stick to it.

Post-production work such as editing a school prom video, colour grading or mixing audio can keep you at a computer for hours at a time. Doing that day after day can lead to aching backs and necks, headaches and repetitive strain injury (RSI), where the wrists, hands and shoulders ache from repeating the same small movements like clicking and typing.

What employers must do

An employer must carry out a risk assessment of the workstations their employees use, and act on what it finds. They must also:

• build in frequent screen breaks so nobody stares at a monitor for hours without stopping
• pay for an eye test if an employee requests one
• train staff in how to set up and use their own workstation safely

What the assessment checks

A workstation risk assessment might check that light from windows or ceiling lamps is not bouncing off the monitor as glare or reflections, that the display does not flicker, that the size of the text on screen is comfortable to read, and that monitors are kept clean and free of dust. It should be reviewed whenever someone new joins the team or fresh equipment is brought in, for example when an editor is given a second, larger monitor.

Setting up and working safely

Training covers correct body alignment: sitting with a straight back and keeping your arms horizontal when typing. Safe practice means adjusting your chair height and seating position, setting the screen at a suitable distance, placing the keyboard and mouse comfortably, and raising or lowering your desk or display until the screen is at a comfortable height. Anyone editing sound through headphones or speakers should keep the volume low enough that it cannot damage their hearing.

A hazard is anything that could cause harm, and a risk is the chance of that harm happening and how serious it would be. A risk assessment is the document that records these for a media production. It is not simply a list of dangers: it shows who might be hurt and in what way, how serious the danger is judged to be, and what actions will lower or remove it.

Its purpose is to identify every potential risk before work starts and show how each one will be reduced or eliminated. This helps keep the production safe and shows that the producer has planned health and safety in advance, rather than reacting after something goes wrong. A risk assessment cannot remove every danger, so the aim is to reduce risk as far as is reasonably practicable, and the precautions recorded matter as much as the hazards.

How it is recorded

A risk assessment must be written down. Smaller productions often use a printed template or checklist with clear headings; larger companies may use an online form builder, which makes forms easier to store, share and update. Forms vary, but they normally record the same things: the hazard, who might be harmed and how, the evaluation of the risk, and the precautions that will keep people safe.

The evaluation judges how likely the harm is and how serious it would be, which helps the producer decide how much the precautions need to do.

A location recce is a visit to a place before filming to check and assess it. You go there in person, look around and decide whether it will work. A producer may visit several possible locations.

What a recce is for

The main purpose is to:

• Check access – can the crew, cast and equipment get in?
• See what is there – what the place really looks and sounds like, not how it seemed on paper.
• Identify the best positions – where to put the camera, lights and sound kit, and which angles will work.
• Assess environmental considerations – things around the location that could affect filming.

For example, a college team planning a short drama in an empty shop might recce three units. Two are too dark inside, but one has big windows, a wide back door for camera cases, and a side yard for sound kit away from the street.

Why it saves money

Recces help avoid expensive problems. Filming can cost a lot each day once you pay for crew, performers, travel and equipment, so a wasted shoot day is costly. Finding a problem on a recce costs nothing; finding it after the crew has arrived can mean losing a day.

A recce can also show that a location will not work at the time of filming. Seasonal changes, weather or new obstructions can get in the way. A beach that was empty at a spring recce could be packed with holidaymakers in August, and the nearby car park might be full every Saturday because of a weekly market. Roadworks or a new fence can block a view that was clear a few months earlier.

Small scale or large scale

Recces can be small scale, such as one student checking their garage before filming a bike-repair tutorial, or large scale, such as a team spending a day at a country park, testing the camera in different light and timing the walk from the car park to the lake.

A recce is not the risk assessment itself; it is the visit where the producer gathers information.

A location recce is a visit to a place before filming to check whether it will actually work. You take the script with you and look at the site through the eyes of the camera operator, the sound recordist and the rest of the crew.

Fitting the script and looking after people

A recce checks whether the location suits the script or story. A scene set in a busy café needs a room that can pass as a café, with enough space to stand a camera and a few crew without everyone being squashed together.

You also check access — can the equipment van get close, or is the track too narrow? Is there parking for the crew, and are there toilets on site or nearby for the crew and actors? On a long shoot day these matter, and discovering a problem after everyone has arrived wastes time and money.

Light, sound and awkward objects

Lighting checks include which way the windows face, how the sun crosses the site during the day, where shadows will fall, and how many daylight hours you have. A room with windows along one wall may be bright in the morning but gloomy after lunch, so the recce notes the best hours for filming.

Background noise is checked too: a playground, a skate park or church bells could ruin the sound, so note the times when the noise is minimal and plan to record then.

Look out for anything that would look out of place in the shot — a bright plastic playhouse in the corner of a garden, or a low ceiling that blocks high camera angles. The recce may also note the typical weather for that time of year, so wet weeks can be planned for.

Hazards and power

The recce is when hazards are spotted — a steep step, a pond, loose floorboards — so that controls or precautions can be put in place before anyone arrives. Every hazard found is written into the risk assessment: the recce is the visit, the risk assessment is the document.

Finally, check whether power sources are available. No sockets in a field means hiring a generator.