Are sets safer than 10 years ago
- Thread starter lambert
- Start date
CharlesPapert
Director of Photography
I'll address this in terms of "the industry"...which generally means union sets, or non-union sets that are run adhering to much of union guidelines. Obviously there is a wide range of working standards in the indie world, which today ranges from medium to non-existent budgets and experience levels.
he short answer is yes, sets have gotten safer. Most workers are required to take many hours of safety classes (https://www.csatf.org), the studios maintain safety hotlines, policies are currently being revised to ensure safer working conditions. The industry was rocked by the Midnight Rider tragedy four years ago and inspired most of us to speak up when we see potential safety issues arise.
That said: the specific issue you bring up, that of long working hours, has sadly been ignored in contract negotiations despite much attention being brought to it by the rank and file. The one concession generally offered after long days especially on remote locations is that production will offer hotel rooms, however there are still issues with that (crawling into a hotel bed at 5 a.m. only to be rousted for an 11 a.m. checkout). The late Haskell Wexler produced a documentary called Who Needs Sleep about the serious effects of sleep deprivation and fought for a 12 on, 12 off work environment but to date there is no official set of standards on this. I am fortunate to regularly work for producers who adhere to that template, partially because of the human aspect but also because it saves money.
he short answer is yes, sets have gotten safer. Most workers are required to take many hours of safety classes (https://www.csatf.org), the studios maintain safety hotlines, policies are currently being revised to ensure safer working conditions. The industry was rocked by the Midnight Rider tragedy four years ago and inspired most of us to speak up when we see potential safety issues arise.
That said: the specific issue you bring up, that of long working hours, has sadly been ignored in contract negotiations despite much attention being brought to it by the rank and file. The one concession generally offered after long days especially on remote locations is that production will offer hotel rooms, however there are still issues with that (crawling into a hotel bed at 5 a.m. only to be rousted for an 11 a.m. checkout). The late Haskell Wexler produced a documentary called Who Needs Sleep about the serious effects of sleep deprivation and fought for a 12 on, 12 off work environment but to date there is no official set of standards on this. I am fortunate to regularly work for producers who adhere to that template, partially because of the human aspect but also because it saves money.
David W. Jones
Veteran
My former mentor helped start this org some years back. You might give it a visit..... http://12on12off.weebly.com
Run&Gun
Veteran
And speaking from the network TV side, it's just as bad or worse since budgets are shrinking more and more and managers do not want to approve/pay for hotel rooms near an out of town location even with early start times and/or long drives. This past weekend we were out of town covering an event for three days. Almost two hours away(no big deal normally), but they did not want to originally approve hotel rooms for the first night, only the second. So the first day we were up at 7am to leave at 8am to arrive by 10am. We would have then worked almost 10 hours on-site before driving back home two hours to turn around and get-up at 4am to drive back at 5am. My producer stepped-in and set them straight. And I just did a multi-cam interview shoot today that was out-of-state(two states away to be exact). Woke up at 5am, left at 6am, got back home at 8pm. 4 1/2 hr drive one-way(9hrs of driving total), 14 hours total portal-to-portal.
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