Working on a Fly Floor

[Just Some Bloke]

4 OT posts removed (they were quite funny, I have to admit, but nevertheless this is a serious thread and we need to keep it that way).

[ramdram]

Attack on "Tech' Rep". Not really an attack as such JF.

 

I suspect that a few of us have worked with chancers (do not include yourself btw) before and have shuddered at their engineering prowess...I have seen one tw@t realign a vertical alloy truss using a huge maul and block of timber...without any thought as to why that truss had moved in the first place, or what damage he may have caused to the welds, or cracks in the plates. We then had to get the installer bods back in to do it properly.

 

A mention has been made of pulling the load with sash cord, say, to where it has to go...all well and good if the mass is not too much to handle and there was no danger of the "backswing" hoicking the bloke over the rail if he or she "refused" to let go. Inertia is physics and can't be avoided. There might be an issue with suspension angles too.

 

There was mention of a trolley running on an I beam system, similar to some factories/warehouse where an I beam pokes out from the gable end. I gather there are more sophisticated systems where the I beam runs on two parallel bearers so the load can be picked up anywhere (from a stage floor say) and raised to wherever (fly floor say). The load hangs plumb and the angle issue does not arise. Of course these installs are far from cheap especially if powered and the mains supply has to be run to the motors etc.

 

However it is fit for purpose.

 

In hindsight perhaps the question could have been along the lines of I need to get stuff into the fly floor, say, I have such and such an arrangement, any suggestion on how to do the business whilst working in a safe manner?

[Jivemaster]

There are numerous ways of achieving a safe system of work that could perform this task safely, it really is up to the OP to sort out with his H&S people some really good methods that are safe without being over complicated so that they will be used rather than should be used. However having already upset the H&S people some relationship bridge building is certainly needed.

[Tom]

I thought this was quite an interesting topic

 

someone asked for ways to do something fairly common

 

a number of people suggested how they do it or how they would do it

 

a lot more people currently doing it one safe way now have ideas of how other people do it

 

perhaps the OP (or another hypothetical OP)just needed their brain giving a nudge in the right direction

 

it would be a shame if this type of topic disapeared because people were afraid to ask, it would make for a very dull place

 

incidentally I read "Is there a way we can get around the health and safety and do things safely " as "is there a way we can get around the health and safety problem to make this safer"

 

so replace "get around" with "avoid" and "health and safety problem" with "potential danger" and you have a perfectly valid safety question as part of your RA and hierarcy of control

 

I completely agree.

[LXbydesign]

As someone else stated, the first thing I would be looking at is what are the heavy items that have to keep being hauled up onto the fly floor?

 

Is it touring amps or dimmers? If thats the case, why not think about relocating power / adding facility panels on stage level etc etc.

 

Ive worked on a few fly floors in my time in various different types of places - and I cant recall a single venue that regually has to lump 'a load of heavy stuff' up onto the fly floor (prehaps aside from weights now and then)

 

First call of writing a RA - what can we do to REDUCE the risk!

 

Whos saying that this guy works in a 'Major London Venue'? Im not being funny, but there arnt many 25 yr old Technical Managers who would be in that position in a 'Major London Venue'.

 

Venues like Wembley Arena, O2, Royal Opera House, National Theatre. Those are 'Major London Venues' - and I know full well that the Technical Managers there are not 25! hehe

 

Btw, that wasnt a dig at the OP :)

[paulears]

On one side of our stage the fly floor area - the OP side - is pretty huge - it's probably 12m by 6m at least, and it gets used for storing things, because stage level storage is at a premium. Apart from a follow spot graveyard - with Patt 93, 293, 765 and solos all still capable of being fired up, it is an ideal place for fight cases. This side the fly floor does not overhang, there is a solid wall from the bottom of the horizontal lower timber down to stage level. Everything that need to get put out of the way goes up that way. A large pulley is fitted at a suitable point and everything is hand hauled from the ground up the side of the wall until it clears the top rail, and then is just pulled back and lowered to the floor. The real risk that is the focus of the risk assessment is falling, so once it leaves the ground, nobody is in the fall area. Weight limits are the same as when hand hauling any hemp system - within the capabilities of the people doing the process. The height above the fly rail is sufficient for even a lightweight to pull a typical double flightcase for a mover onto the rail. Once there it's quite simple to get it down to the floor. The only problem is it takes 4 people. 2 hauling (one would actually be able to do it, but two is safer), one to pull back, and one on the stage to do the straps or knots. The danger areas were highlighted at leaning - but the the pulley is on the fly floor side of the rail, vertically, so a typical case runs up the wall, which also stops it spinning. Rope burns, a subject close to my heart are also a risk, so we have suitable leather gloves up there for this purpose. The only other safety measure that varies is barriers at stage level, which we use when the stage is occupied by either children, or people not used to stage work - when they are cleared well away. We would not do this where a visiting crew was in and aware of our actions - as in we warn them. This process has been carried out for at least 18 years to my knowledge and has never been an issue. It's also used on a longer scale to get timber cloth battens down to the stage - 3 ropes, goes up, then over the fly rail and down to the stage. These things are very heavy and unwieldy but can only be stored on the rear fly crossover section.

 

It has never been identified as a particular hazard, and manual handling techniques seem to work well for reducing the risk. We have a dimmer installation in the old lighting box which is a half rail 'room' immediately above the stage managers position, prompt side. There is a gap between the counterweight cradles that were fitted over the opening just large enough to get an extra touring dimmer rack up there - and this one is very, very difficult, because it is 4 feet beach from the only vertical hauling point. Rope does work, but is a considerable effort, and unpleasant to do. The process we developed is quite simple - a small pulley block over the hauling rope, and then it can be pulled horizontally into the dimmer room, with a rope attached to the block. Again, it takes people to make the process safe and acceptable - but it works for us.