Event Safety Insights Issue Four | Summer 2017 | Page 45

We operate the Production Office as a main point of contact for information and assistance. If anyone needs to see a doctor or dentist they come to us first. This is also the case for emergency medical assis- tance. If an ambulance is required we work with the venue and our Site Co-ordinators to organize this and then accompany crew to seek emergency treatment. ESI: How does safety offsite affect what you do specifically? DT: As we oversee crew movements (to and for the venue) we are aware at all times of who is on-site (from a crew perspective). We constantly monitor this so that if there were to be an evacuation we would be aware of who we need to get to safety. This is now more important than ever. As we travel to many different countries and cities we try as much as we can to advise our crew on does and don’ts i.e. where pick pockets operate, places where personal safety may be an issue etc We also act as an extension of our Security Team in regards to getting information out to our crew. One of the main challenges of my role is to balance the independence of our crew (they are all adults) with overseeing & being responsible for their safe- ty. We try to achieve this by offering advice and info but also by explaining the reasoning behind certain actions and info requests i.e. why we know to know crew movements, where there will be bag searches etc. This is most certainly easier now in todays climate as everyone is aware how important safety is. ESI: Have you had any close calls that you can speak to? If so, what happened and what did you do that worked? DT: I was at the rehearsals for the U2ie Paris show that had to be evacuated wh en the attacks happened in 2015. The evacuation was overseen by our Produc- tion Director Jake Berry and was extremely smooth. Once we were made aware of the situation we quick- ly made a comprehensive plan that involved the fol- lowing: 1. making note of everyone we had on-site, 2. posting someone to the hotel to check off all crew as they arrived (from the venue) 3. calmly evacuating everyone onsite using the vehicles at our disposal. The situation was made all the more interesting but the fact that we had an entire HBO film crew onsite however we added their role call to ours and acted as one large family. Also our freight and travel services (Transam Trucking, Sound Moves, and Satellite Office Services) really assisted on the spot with having to get gear out and also to reschedule the show. ESI: What is something you would suggest to anyone starting out in your position? DT: Take every opportunity that you can and make the most of it. Seek out extra responsibility, volunteer for different roles, soak up information and learn ev- erything that you can form those around you. Also, don’t forget to enjoy yourself. The days can be long and the work grueling but its the best job in the world. 45