You light up my life, er, ah, Hardhat!

Hard hats are great, but they don't offer a lot of options for attaching headlamps. We work in near darkness many places in the theatre, and holding a pen-light in your mouth for any length of time can result in drooling all-over yourself and the flashlight - not mention the yech factor of where it may have recently been.  The typical elastic band type headlamps that hobbyist wear won't stay-put because the elastic band will slip across the slick surface of the hardhat and fall off at the most inopportune time.  Securing your flashlight to your hardhat frees-up your hands for more productive work.

Streamlight Rubber Strap Mount on firefighter's helmet, and Streamlight Clip Mount (inset).

Streamlight, makers of industrial strength flashlights for fire and rescue teams has a good solution:  The Haz-Lo Helmet Lighting Kit.  In includes a clamp bracket so you can secure the flashlight to the helmet rigidly with a pivoting mount, a rubber helmet strap with holes you can thread the flashlight through, and a 3AA LED flashlight with a tail cap type switch.  The clamp bracket has a captive screw so you won't be loosing those tiny parts.

More info at:  www.streamlight.com/en-us/product/product.html?pid=283

A pair of these lights provides redundancy and doubles your work light to 240 lumens, each running 6-1/2 hours.  Remember:  It is still a good idea to safety cable the flashlight to your hard hat, and safety cable you hard hat to your gear belt.

We're dark on Mondays . . . and when the power goes off

Nothing like a blown fuse, tripped breaker, or general power outage to leave you wondering where the nearest flashlight is.

Pelican, the makers of really cool cases and flashlights, has solved that problem.  Check them out at www.pelican.com.

They offer flashlights with  photoluminescent  parts that 'charge-up' from both the flashlight's own output, and the ambient light.

Their LED lights will run for a claimed 50 hours.  Just look under Lights : Recoil™ LED Series on their web site, or go directly to:

SabreLite 2000PL (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=2000PL)
SabreLite 2010PL LED (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=2010PL)
StealthLite 2400PL  (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=2400PL)
StealthLite 2410PL LED (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=2410PL)
Little Ed 3610PL LED (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=3610PL)
Big Ed 3700PL (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=3700PL)
Big Ed 3750PL Rechargeable (www.pelican.com/lights_detail.php?recordID=3750PL)

And if you already have a Pelican flashlight, some models have the  photoluminescent  shrouds available for retrofit - just go to the accessories page.

Way-finding: Which way out?

If I was in a hurry to get out of some place, like, say . . WHEN THERE IS A FIRE, I'd want to:

A:  Be able to read the evacuation map in a hurry,

B:  Be able to read it in the dark with the power out.

Hand Scrawled Fire Evacuation Route Sign (8 1/2 x 11)

Here's a good idea that can help those things come together:

• Make the map large enough that you can read it without squinting.
• Make the lettering bold and easy to read, say 1/4" (6mm), minimum (no hand-written letters either).
• Place a "YOU ARE HERE" arrow or marker that is REALLY BIG AND OBVIOUS.
• Then print the sign on clear film and mount it over a sheet of  photoluminescent  material.

That's where the folks at EvacMap (www.evacmap.com) can fix you right up.  They can do your graphics for you, or you can provide your own.  Their  photoluminescent  sign frames are just what you need.

Another source for these types of sign frames is Accuform Signs (www.Accuform.com).  They also offer special sign frames for  Severe Weather Plans .  Another time when the power may not be functioning and you don't want to evacuate the building, but instead, you want to relocate everyone to a safer location within the building.

Emergency Flashlight for Preparedness . . . where did I put that !?

The Panasonic BF-541 Emergency Light, which is powered by two D-cell replaceable batteries (sold separately), can be easily wall-mounted anywhere fast access to lighting is needed. An automatic switch feature turns the Emergency Light ON automatically when removed from its holder.  The light will glow up to 18 hours with its high-luminance krypton bulb when used with alkaline cells. If you replace the lamp with an LED you can probably extend the run time further (why didn't they think of that?)

To save battery power when not in use, the battery is disengaged and the light goes OFF when returned to its holder. Because there is no switch, it encourages users to return it to a location where it might be found by others rather than just laying it down and forgetting about it.  The exterior case of the flashlight also has a little  photoluminescent  marking dot which glows in the dark, making it a wee bit easier to find when the lights go out.  I think I'd put a BIG honking strip of photoluminescent tape down the side to make sure that it is visible.

Other flashlights of interest might be:
http://theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/jumpin-jack-flashlight.html
http://theatresafetyblog.blogspot.com/2010/02/were-dark-on-mondays-and-when-power.html

Boxes full of booty (no, not that kind of booty!)

As I perused the Stage Manager's exhibits at the theatre conference I found some other items of interest, too.  Most of the kits had some sort of First Aid section, and several had Flash Lights and/or Spare Batteries, and a few had Chemical Light Sticks stowed-away.  All good things to have if the lights go out.

However, what was really interesting was that all of the portable kits I saw were BLACK.  All black.  Barely a fleck of color anywhere.  It reminded me of the picture below:

"Polar bear in a snow storm"

Now I know that black is the color of choice for all things theatre, but this doesn't make any sense.  It's not like you don't want to be able to find your tool box.  It's not like your tool box is going to be flirting around the wings and might be seen by the audience.  And guess what?  If the lights go out - you wouldn't be able to find your flashlight or Calume light sticks!  A black box in a black backstage environment with the lights out is nothing but a trip hazard or shin-buster.

Not  black ? Sacrilege!  Keel-haul the scallywag! At the very minimum, place some photoluminescent marker tape around the perimeter so that you can find it when the lights go out.  A bit of highly reflective (i.e. retroreflective) marker tape along side the photoluminescent tape would be a good idea, too - this way if you shine even the weakest of flashlights in the general direction of the toolbox, it'll light-up like a fireworks display and you can grope your way toward it a bit easier.  There is a reason that Firefighters and Liferafts both have SOLAS* type marker tape on them - so they can be seen under the worst of lighting conditions.

*SOLAS - Save Our Lives At Sea - Solas type marker tape is commonly used on road signs and highway barrier marking because it does such a darn good job of blinding you with your own headlights.

So, how about some alternatives?  OK. Lets try these:

DuraTool D00403

DuraTool D00407

Stanley 2-in-1 Mobile Work Center

(a bit black, but nothin' a bit-o-tape won't fix either)

Stanley 3-in-1 Mobile Work Center

The Stage Manager's Ready List

I recently attended a theatre festival that had many great portfolio and model set presentations by Directors, Stage Manager's, Sound Designers, Lighting Designers, Set Builders, and many other talented individuals.  It's great to see such a high level of creativity by those coming into the business!

Of particular interest were the presentations by the Stage Managers.  Each had presentations of check-lists, pre-show make-ready items, post-show to-do lists, and every other kind of list imaginable, except one: Emergency Procedures.  So the next time you're "making a list and checking it twice," take a moment and think about what you might / should do in the cases of:

• Extreme weather conditions (flood, tornado, hurricane)
• Injuries (both to crew and performers -- and to audience members)
• Security (campus lock-down or evacuation)
• Building Emergency (fires, earthquakes, broken water pipes, roof collapse, power outage)
• Equipment failure (fire curtain comes-in accidentally, or maybe won't go-out, tripped sprinkler head - do you know where the shut-off valve is located?)

If you don't have a plan, then it is quite typical that you may end-up with total chaos on your hands.  How you handle an emergency can greatly influence the likelihood of injuries being sustained by the building occupants as they try to deal with the situation.

Have a plan (actually, several plans).  Post them.  Practice them.

Good places to hang-out:
Control Booth:  www.controlbooth.com
Stage Manager's Association www.stagemanagers.org
Production Manager's Forum www.foghouse.com/PMForum/index.html

Jumpin' jack flash(light)

I know, I just had a blog entry for Pelican's photoluminescent flashlights, but they have yet another cool tool.  Every Stage Manager and House Manager's workstation oughta have one of these:

Pelican 2480 ELS Emergency Lighting Station houses a Pelican MityLite 2440PLB Flashlight (with a photoluminescent body).  A tail switch for easy, one hand operation fires-up this 21 lumen 5-LED array powered by alkaline/titanium cells that provide 90 hour burn time and shelf life of about 7 years.

Here's the odd part:  You can't find these item on Pelican's web site because they have discontinued this particular model.  However, just plug 'Pelican 2480 ELS'  (for the plastic station holder), or 'Pelican MityLite 2440PLB' (for the flashlight) into a search engine and you can find-out where to snag them.