Process Planning – The Hard Way, the Safe Way, the Cost Effective Way

Last week Rich Dionne talked about Fail Safe Design (: http://www.theatreface.com/profiles/blogs/fail-safe-design) and how you assemble equipment so that a failure of one component won’t bring your effect or crew to its knees and leave your show in a bind. This concept is also addressed in the way we do things, too. Its call Process Planning, and it looks at the Who, What, Where, and Why of the actions we take.

The battle cry of the Theatre is “The Show Must Go On!” In taking this to heart, we sometimes forge ahead with, as my dad used to say: “Nary a forethought.” The urge to ‘get it done’ can overshadow the need to plan, and the results can be dangerous, disastrous, or maybe just plan messy. At the least, they can be inefficient and wasteful.

Rich’s example of a simple thing like a safety cable on a stage lighting instrument is a good starting point. You have to get to the root of the issue before you can make progress on defining the process that you will you to get the job done. Ask yourself (or your students) “Why are we doing this?” What is the point of even putting a safety cable on a lighting instrument? Is it to annoy the lighting technician? [No] Is it to sell more safety cables? [No] Is it to keep the lighting instrument from dropping onto the actor or audience member below? [Yes].

OK. When is that most likely to happen? When you are mounting the instrument? When you are removing the instrument? When the instrument is in-place and being used? Well, #1 and #2 are probably more likely to present an opportunity for a slip-up, while #3 is probably less likely, if the technician has done his job and tightened the mounting clamp. This is not to say that scenario #3 can’t happen, but it does suggest that it may not be the prime time for an accident to happen.

Mounting an instrument is pretty straight-forward: You put the C-Clamp on the pipe and you tighten the fastening bolt, right? Sort-of. How do we do this? We hold the yolk in one hand while dangling the lighting instrument out over the victim (audience, actor, your foot, seat, stage floor, Ming Vase, etc.), then what? Well, if an accident is going to happen, then this is the time – your hands are sweaty, it’s late, the TD is yelling at you to ‘hurry-up’, and your phone is ringing in your pocket. You can do three things:

• Put the C-Clamp on the pipe, get the wrench and tighten the bolt, then attach the safety cable, or
• Put the safety cable on, then slip the C-Clamp on the pipe and tighten the bolt, or
• Put the C-Clamp on the pipe, attach the safety cable, then tighten the bolt.

Which way is safer? My vote would be to install the safety cable first, because it can catch the lighting instrument should I lose my grip doing any of the succeeding steps. Conversely, when you are striking the instrument, it makes sense to let the safety cable be the last thing you do to free the lighting instrument.

This may seem like a lot of thinking for such a simple task, but it’s not, especially if you add some other issues to the mix: Focusing the light, locking the Yolk-to-C-Clamp pivot bolt, Relamping the light, inserting gel frames, gobo accessories, plugging / unplugging the light, is it hot? (or not), how much does it weigh? Can you attach the safety cable while the light is still on the catwalk before you hang in out in space? Are you on firm footing – or standing on a ladder? Are you wearing fall protection and leaning out to the mounting point? All these elements can come into play.

When determining how a person, or a group of people, are going to achieve a task (do a process) it helps to step back and look at it in a broader sense. One of the first questions to ask is “What could possibly go wrong?”

• Assess what tools you may need. Hand tools: Hammer, screw driver, wrench? Power tools: drills, saws, planers? Machinery: Trucks, Lifts, Dollies?
• Assess the PPE (Personnel Protective Equipment) you will need. Fall Protection? Gloves? Hard Hats? Eye Protection?, etc.
• Assess how many people it may take to do the task. Someone to hold the door? Lift the other end? Spot the rigging for snags? Drive the truck?
• Assess how much time the task will take. It’s nothing to aim one light, but if the lighting designer wants 250 lights focused in two hours, you may have a manpower issue.
• Assess the Built Environment. Will this fit through the door? Will this turn the corner from the hallway? Will the structure support this? Is this color correct?
• Assess the Legal requirements. Are there any Building Codes that affect this? Is ADA compliance necessary? Do the operators need to have any special training or certifications? Does this violate any copyright?
• Assess the Environmental Impact. How will we dispose of this? Are there any toxic fumes? Is there a greener alternative, a better material?
• Assess the Fire Safety. Is this combustible? Does this block an exit route?
• Assess the show budget. How much will it cost?

The point of the seemingly trivial exercise of ‘how to hang a light’ is to get students and workers to assess a situation before they barrel head-long into it without thinking about the consequences. Everything we do has a ripple effect to the show and the workers around us. So just like cutting a board where we ‘measure twice, cut once’, take a moment to Think Twice, Do Once. It’s a lot better than Do It, Call Ambulance, Call Lawyer, Clean-up Mess.