Safety Compliance Upgrades in School Halls
It is a common finding when visiting older entertainment spaces, such as multipurpose school halls or drama rooms, for our team to discover un-safe electrical infrastructure, non-compliant overhead rigging and a poor level of maintenance, with lots of safety hazards and technical faults hidden under a thick layer of dust and mould.
There are now more stringent safety regulations for performance spaces than there were 20 years ago, impacting electrical wiring, how items are suspended overhead, fire safety and equipment maintenance, duty of care and so on. This means that many older installations would be considered un-safe and non-compliant by today’s standards.
A Case Study (School Sports Hall)
Before:
- Non-compliant over-stage rigging, caused by –
- Poor quality installations using unsuitable cheap rigging materials and poor methodology.
- Insufficient structural rigging points over the stage.
- These factors can be a problem in newer buildings too.
- Damaged lighting bar circuits – electrical safety hazard
- Cracked power plugs and exposed inner cabling on lanterns – electrical safety hazard
- Lighting patch panel – in need of rationalisation, service & repair
- Curtains & theatrical lanterns rigged at height – covered in thick dust and cobwebs
- Stage Curtains poorly configured
After
- New Rigging Infrastructure – using rated entertainment industry truss to span structural rigging points.
- Rated cross-members between trusses – creating a level rigging platform / over-stage grid to facilitate safe attachment of stage equipment in correct positions.
- Modified & cleaned black wool masking curtains – providing clean sight lines and good masking of stage wing areas.
- Reconfigured stage lighting patch – rationalised and reorganised.
- New lighting control console – to control LED fixtures & moving lights (as well as traditional hot-lights).
What’s Next?
Phase 2 is planned for 12 months or so and will include …
- Modification and reinstallation of centre-opening front of house & intermediate curtains.
- LED stage lighting signal and power infrastructure to lighting trusses.
- New LED and moving head lighting fixtures adding colour and visual excitement to the stage.
Our friendly technicians are experienced in bringing older spaces up to code and are happy to work with clients to plan for long-term upgrades, allowing these spaces not only to be made safe, but to shine and excel in providing high-quality outcomes using new technologies.
PLS will come to you for free
Contact us to check if your stage area is up to code for industry compliance and safety requirements. We will come to you and carry out a brief walk-through of your performance space at no charge, providing an initial basic checklist, highlighting items that may need rectification or further investigation.
Act now to make THEATRE SAFETY and COMPLIANCE a priority for your next budget.