The Journal of Light Construction (www.jlconline.com) is a building trades web site that serves the segment of the building industry that doesn't involve huge I-Beams and multi-story concrete buildings. This is mostly single-story business and residential type work, which, as it…

Fire Doors serve a special function in a building – they are there to both contain a fire and to help extinguish it. All too often we find Fire Doors that have been modified or their automatic functions circumvented. This can lead to the catastrophic loss of life and cause additional damage to a building, so we want to see that they are used properly.…

The Event Safety Alliance's effort to create a US version of the UK "Purple Guide" has resulted in the creation of a very good first public review draft for comment. More information at: http://theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2013/02/esa-releases-draft-version-of-us-event.html…

Slip slidin’ away . . . seems to be what I see on a lot of stages I visit. Scenery and platforms on casters without brakes can create a real hazardous situation for technicians and performers alike. I wrote about one scenario a few years ago where a child actress was expected to climb a ladder that was…

The entertainment industry is an enormous business, it employs millions world-wide, and it crosses all walks of life. Nightclubs, Theatre, Film, TV, Education, Manufacturing, Sales & Marketing are all a part of the machine. When we start-out in this industry many of us may be star-struck with visions of being an actor, musician, or dancer; and some of us have dreams of being the greatest costume designer, lighting…

I had the recent opportunity of attending a White Coat ceremony for some budding doctors, and like most functions in hotel ballrooms, the production values were horrific to the senses – bad lighting, bad sound, terrible blocking, and boring speeches. Why is this? Don’t the people being recognized deserve better?

These types of…

Riddle me this, Batman: What is roughly 6’ x 3’ and will reach safely to a work platform height of 20’? If you said: “Ladder”, you would most likely be wrong:…

Wireless everything. Or so it seems. It almost seems quaint to connect something with wire these days. Our WiFi computers, tablets, & cell phones; DMX and AV control connections; microphones, IEM's, and speakers, too. Along with great convenience comes great interference. There is only so much useable space in the…

The National Guild for Community Arts Education has posted the videos from their Fall 2012 Conference in Dallas, Texas. This was a gathering of experts in getting arts programs organized, recognized, funded, and operational. This is a great resource for anyone that couldn't attend, or did attend and couldn't get to all the sessions that they wanted to (isn't that always the case?). The session videos can be found here:…

As we come up on the 111^th anniversary of the Iroquois Theatre Fire, it serves to remind us that fires in theatres are all too frequent of an occurrence. This year alone has seen numerous theatre structure fires that, fortunately, didn’t take any lives, but were non-the-less damaging to…

Top Ten lists can be fun, except when the list is not someplace you want to find yourself. Each Year OSHA posts information about the most commonly cited violations in the workplace. Admittedly, the majority of the citations came from outside our industry, but this year we, the entertainment industry, were caught in the fray, too. Incidents like the Canopy Collapse at the Indiana State Fair…

Theatre for Young Audiences conference at PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, Ohio is now open for business.

More information and registration at:…

Some considerations of safety issues in the K-12 environment. Safety issues in these facilities are in many ways even more important than at the college level and professional level. This is for several reasons:

1. Children have a less developed sense of hazard recognition and awareness of the abstract potential for injury to…

In the Terminator movie franchise the world has become an apocalyptic wasteland as the intelligent machines seek to eliminate mankind from the world. Most of the machines we deal with are, by comparison and capability, pretty benign . . . until we lose focus on what we are doing. Then it seems that they are plotting our demise, or at least deliberately try to frustrate us. Have you ever had had a copy machine…

Adding Arts into the Science Technology Engineering Math programs is key to balancing the education received and to stimulating the learning. An article in Education News (www.educationnews.org/technology/will-adding-arts-to-stem-improve-education-and-innovation/)…

Heads! Is a common term in the Theatre, however, it is one that we wish we didn’t hear very often as it usually indicates a disaster that is about to happen (and quickly, too). In the construction industry, one must wear PPE that is appropriate to the hazard exposure. This almost always includes impact protection for you head. A baseball cap or bandana simply won’t do the job. Hard-hats…

Extension Cords are simple items, used almost everywhere, and available at your local store (or not, once you read further). They are a ‘make-do’ item - we use these to power-up equipment that is not near a convenient power outlet. The root problem is usually a lack of having an outlet where you need one. That’s a planning issue that should have been considered at the outset of the building design, but is frequently…

I was getting my car inspected the other day, and in the waiting room of the service center there was a TV mounted on the wall for customers to watch while their car was being worked on. This was not an entertainment experience that was intended to be ‘high-brow’, however, it left so much to be desired that I found it worthy of writing about. The points discussed here are fairly universal in the manner of considerations…