7. Health & Safety
There are many potential hazards in video production, including the risks of working with electrical products, the potential for physical injury from falling equipment and the general risks associated with working in public places.
7.1 Health & Safety and the Law
| Videographers have a legal responsibility to ensure the safety of themselves, those working alongside them, and anyone who might be at risk as a result of their work.
A videographer can be held to account for their actions or lack of actions under civil or criminal law. In a civil proceeding, the claimant only has to prove their case on the balance of probabilities. This is the reason why the IOV stipulates, as part of its Code of Practice, that any professional videographer must have adequate Public Liability Insurance. If the relevant enforcement authority decides that, beyond all reasonable doubt, a breach of Health & Safety legislation has taken place, this could lead to the videographer being punished by sanctions such as fines or, in extreme cases, imprisonment. |
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| Whilst losses from civil actions may be covered by Public Liability Insurance policies, criminal actions will not be. Any fines will be payable by the guilty party. In addition, in the UK, where criminal prosecutions involves those where a breach of the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 (HASWA) has taken place, the defendant has to prove their innocence. This is unlike other criminal proceedings where the defendant is innocent until proven guilty. | ||
7.2 Health & Safety Responsibilities
The working relationship between the videographer and their client has some bearing on the duty of management of Health & Safety.
Where the videographer is contracted by a business or other organisation, the responsibility to manage the Health & Safety of those involved in the project is shared between the videographer and the client. This means that although responsibility for Risk Assessment rests with the videographer, the client has a responsibility to request a Risk Assessment (see section 7.3 – Health & Safety Risk Assessments) and check its content and appropriateness for the task in hand. They must also monitor the videographer during the filming to check they are following their Risk Assessment, working safely and not deliberately cutting corners.
Where the videographer is employed by a member of the public on the videographer
7.3 Health & Safety Risk Assessments
A Risk Assessment is a methodical way of identifying any hazards inherent in a work activity and identifying how these should be managed or controlled to prevent harm so far as is reasonably practicable.
This does not mean that you have to eliminate risk at all costs. You should ignore trivial hazards and concentrate on the significant ones and keep the Risk Assessment ‘reasonable’ under the given circumstances.
The process for producing a Risk Assessment should be as follows:
- Identify the hazards (a hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm)
- Decide who and how many people may be harmed
- Evaluate the risk by considering the likelihood and severity should the hazards be realised
- Identify the existing control measures
- Identify any additional control measures necessary to manage the risk to reasonable levels
- Write down your findings
- Implement the control measures
- Monitor and review the assessment as appropriate
Once completed, the Risk Assessment should be submitted to your client for their information. Some clients, as a matter of course, may not allow you on their premises to film until you have completed one. If you are filming a wedding, for instance, you should give your client a copy as well as the organisation(s) which control the premises where you will be working.
Whilst producing a generic Risk Assessment for similar types of work may seem logical, to be valid it must pass what is referred to as the Suitable & Sufficient Test. This stipulates that the Risk Assessment must be of appropriate depth and breadth, of the correct type of assessment (there are specific assessments for particular activities) and up to date.
It is quite sensible to use an existing a Risk Assessment as the basis for a new project, but unless the project is identical in every way its validity could be open to question. If you do adopt a generic assessment approach, you must compare the situation and location at hand to ensure a sensible review has taken place.
7.4 Reporting Health & Safety Incidents
A hazard not fully understood, or not foreseeable, may cause an accident. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR) 1995 is the specific regulation explaining the legal duties for reporting accidents and dangerous occurrences in places where work is being carried out.
In the UK, the duty for reporting accidents/incidents under RIDDOR rests with the ‘responsible person’. In general the responsible person is the person who is in ‘control’ of the premises or location where the accident took place. This could be your client, a church minister/priest/vicar, hotel manager or even you, the videographer.
You should never assume that someone else has reported an accident. You should discuss this with whoever you believe is in control of the premises and agree with them regarding reporting.
Where you report these incidents to will vary from country to country. In the UK, there are two enforcement authorities to choose from depending upon the type of premises where the accident took place.
Any accidents/incidents taking place in Retail, Office, Hotels, Restaurants, Sports & Leisure Facilities, Places of Worship and Consumer Services properties should be reported to the Local Authority Environmental Health Department. Accidents/incidents taking place anywhere else should be reported to the Health & Safety Executive central accident/incident centre.
In either case, accidents must be reported to the relevant body within 10-days of the incident. The method of reporting (either by telephone, in writing or both) will depend on the nature of the incident and the injury sustained. Further guidance on the requirements of RIDDOR is available via the Health & Safety Executive (www.hse.gov.uk/riddor).
7.5 Portable Appliance Testing (PAT)
| As part of their day-to-day activities, videographers will work with portable electric appliances and as such must have these appliances tested at suitable intervals. Not only is this is a regulatory requirement, but some property managers will demand proof of appliance testing prior to allowing the videographer to connect their appliances to the property’s mains supply.
As an additional measure, using an in-line Residual Current Device (RCD) or Residual Current Circuit Breaker (RCCB) will help mitigate the harm caused by electric shocks. These devices disconnect a circuit whenever they detect that the electric current is not balanced between the phase (‘hot’) conductor and the neutral conductor. Such an imbalance is sometimes caused by current leakage through the body of a person who is grounded and accidentally touching the energized part of the circuit. |
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7.6 General Heath & Safety Advice
To summarise, and give further guidance, a professional videographer should:
- Have a basic understanding of the local legal system
- Understand the customer/videographer control of contractors relationship
- Have a Public Liability Insurance policy
- Have the skills necessary to undertake a suitable and sufficient Risk Assessment
- Know which accidents/incidents are required to be reported
- Know who has responsibility for reporting accidents/incidents
- Know which enforcement agency to choose when reporting accidents/incidents
- Understand the steps required to manage the potential hazard inherent in mains powered portable equipment
There are more specialised guides for TV and film production covering subjects as varied as recording from vehicles, the use of firearms and explosives, working at height, and the design of sets and studios. The full index of of ‘Film & Television Production’ guides can be found on the HSE website here – www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/entindex.htm.
There are, of course, other related Health & Safety risks that the videographer needs to be aware of. For instance, the Post Production process will share some risks with other office-based work. The videographer should be particularly aware of the risks and practices associated with working with Display Screen Equipment or Video Display Units (VDUs). These can be found on the HSE website here – www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg36.pdf.