Health and Safety

I have been researching health and safety for when I am filming my horror teaser trailer as there are some shots I wish to film that could be hazardous if not done correctly and under the health and safety regulations.

I have come across the Health and Safety Executive website (HSE) where they have stated what needs to be done in order to abide by the health and safety legislation's. There website states the following:

What you should know:

• Health and safety legislation applies to all work activities in the UK, whether conducted by UK nationals or foreigners, even if they are not being paid.
• Legal duties under health and safety law cannot be delegated.

Define responsibilities and duties

Employers are required to have a management system in place to control the risk to employees and others from their work. The industry uses large numbers of independent companies and freelancers and it is sometimes difficult to decide who the employer is. However, in the majority of cases, the employer will be the producer or production company.  

System for managing health and safety

The size and complexity of management systems for health and safety depend on the size and complexity of the production. General advice on management systems can be found in. Please note, an employer’s legal duty to manage health and safety cannot be delegated to a consultant or to anyone else.

Assess and manage risks

Risk assessment is a fundamental part of managing health and safety and helps you to identify hazards and control the risk they create for those involved in your production. The process requires you to:

• take the time to systematically look at your activities
• decide what hazards they present
• assess the risk of people being exposed to these hazards
• find ways to either eliminate or control them

Review

You must review and update both the risk assessments you have made and the controls you put in place as work progresses to make sure they are still working. After the production, it is good practise to review the whole system to see whether useful lessons could be learned for the future.

From these procedures I now know that I must do the following before filming:

• Define responsibilities and duties
• Have a system for managing health and safety
• Assess and manage risks
• Regularly review the process and procedures for managing risk

As the "producer" I should ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the people working with and me are not exposed to risks to their health and safety. Therefore when filming one of my actors "drowning in the bath tub" I will insure the water is neither to cold or hot, that someone who is trained in first aid is on hand (Myself and my friend, Gill Ingram), that the filming needed is done as swiftly and quickly as possible and that she doesn't have to hold her breath underwater very long so no harm will come to her. I will also have to be cautious when filming another actor "falling down the stairs" by finding the safest possible way for her to fall down the stairs which is to only have her roll very slowly from 4 stairs from the bottom to the bottom and then fast forwarding it on iMovie. I will also ensure someone who knows first aid will be on hand (myself) and that the filming is done as quickly as possible. Lastly I will also have to be cautious when filming my villain swinging a fake machete at a victims head by ensuring she doesn't swing it hard or fast and making sure she stops before hitting her and then I will make this clip faster in iMovie.

I have found out that filming a horror can be most dangourous when it comes to health and saftey due to location and lighting, so I will ensure the locations I plan on filming in will be clear of all hazards that can trip of injure my actors and I will ensure there is enough lighting for the actors to be able to see what they are doing without ruining the feel of my horror trailer. I will also discuss the safety issues before choosing my actors and filming my trailer to avoid the risks identified.

Resources
From the internet:
http://www.hse.gov.uk/entertainment/theatre-tv/film.htm