For more than a decade, workshops on various
aspects of rigging for aerial performance have
been part of ACE and AYCO events, including the
EdCons and Festivals. These sessions have always
been an opportunity to deepen our understanding
of the serious risks inherent in putting people up in
the air, and to access tools, knowledge, and skills
that can help us effectively manage that risk.
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BY JONATHAN DEULL
ACE Safety Consultant
At this year’s EdCon we took a new cut at the
topic, offering for the first time a session on
the most common rigging mistakes and pitfalls
that people run into. To prepare for this, we
informally surveyed interested folks, including
professional riggers, to get their “greatest
hits.” We also relied heavily on previous work
on this topic done by Chuck Johnson and Bev
Sobelman, two of the leading lights of the
ACE Safety Program. Like all of our sessions—
and like this article—the workshops were not
intended as a “how-to” guide or training for
competence as riggers, but as a tool to help us
ask the right questions. It is part of the ACE/
AYCO commitment to enhance awareness so
that we as circus educators, facility/production
managers, and performers, can do what we do
more safely as part of a process of continual
learning and improvement. Specifically, it is
NOT a replacement for having qualified and
competent people design, install, operate, and
regularly inspect your setup. Finally, it is worth
noting that rigging is just one part of the larger
challenge of creating and maintaining a safe
environment and safe operations.
PHOTOS IN THIS ARTICLE PROVIDED BY JONATHAN DEULL
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