J.R. Clancy releases iRigging Application

It's always good to have rigging information at your fingertips - it sure beats guessing or digging in your tool box for that chart of numbers. J. R. Clancy has turned its popular rigging slide rule tool into a free iPhone application. Installers and users of theatre stage rigging should find this handy. The new application delivers instant information in English and metric (SI) units.

iRigging provides wire rope data, including: minimum sheave diameter; cable breaking strength; and recommendations for quantity of cable clips, wire turn-back for cable clips, proper torque for cable clip bolts, and Nicopress sleeve crimp quantities. Other data includes: allowable fleet angles, uniform and midpoint batten loading, arbor capacity, weight of counterweights, recommended working loads for equipment, motor current, stage ropes, and weight of stage fabrics.

The tool is free and currently available at Apple App Store.

More information about J. R. Clancy is available at www.jrclancy.com. As of this date there is no information available about the iRigging application on their web site.

Note: The app does not include iCommonSense, so you have to provide that yourself. It does feature standard GIGO* operation, though.

* Garbage-In yields Garbage-Out

Have fun with it, just don’t be an iDiot and drop your iPhone from the iGrid – it might hit someone in the iHead. Has anyone released the iLanyard to keep this from happening?

I've gotta get out of here!

I frequently find tables in the aisles in theatres, and occasionally in exit vestibules, which are both clear violations of fire codes, but this one was particularly troublesome: This was a laboratory table with a heavy top like a pool table, so it was not easy to move or toss aside. Even if you did move it, where would you put it that wasn't still blocking an exit aisle? Especially if there were people crowding toward the exit. On the other side of the door was the real surprise: They had an upright piano cross-wise of the doors (and a trash can, too!). You would have to pull the piano away from the door, open the door, turn the piano and shove it out the door (assuming there was a crush of people behind you also wanting to get out.)

The amazing part of this is that I have found three pianos blocking fire exits in less than two months - and one of them was a grand piano! Billy Joel would not be happy! Not to mention the Fire Marshal!

Oh yeah, did you notice that the EXIT signs did not have functioning lamps?

Fall From Catwalk Kills Lighting Technician

WEST PALM BEACH, Florida — A lighting technician, Fenton "Andy" Hollingsworth, was killed Thursday, December 3rd after falling from a 30-foot-high catwalk. The incident occurred at the 300-seat Marshall E. Rinker, Sr. Playhouse, part of the Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts.

Police and fire officials say that about 2 p.m., Hollingsworth, 27, slipped as he stood on the catwalk, installing lights on a truss.

Co-workers heard and saw him fall, Police Lt. Tom Hale said.

"He was not breathing when we arrived," police said spokesman Chase Scott.

Andy Hollingsworth was taken to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he died.

Both the Kravis Center and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the incident.

The 16 catwalks in the Rinker's light truss are each eight feet long by 20 inches wide and there are several railings. A facility technical plan can be found at:
http://cache.trustedpartner.com/docs/library/000285/RinkerTech%20Spec%20Oct%201%202009.pdf

Hollingsworth had worked for the center since April 10, 2007. Shannon McShane Hollingsworth said she did worry about her husband's safety.

"He always promised, and told me, he was always careful. We always made sure he had new shoes with new rubber soles" she told reporters. It was unknown if he was wearing any fall protection equipment when he lost his footing and fell.

"We're vigorously investigating the cause of the accident," Kravis Center Chief Executive Judy Mitchell said. "As always, we're very concerned about the safety of our employees. Andy was a wonderful young man and a valued employee who will be greatly missed by the entire family of the Kravis Center."

Head count, please! No SRO seating.

Part of the House Mangers' job is to ensure the safety of the attending patrons. If your customers survive the show, they might come back and buy another ticket! Each Assembly Occupancy" (that's building code speak for "theatre, auditorium, venue, show space, etc.) must have the maximum legal occupancy clearly posted. This means that you shouldn't sell 30,000 tickets for a space designed for 10,000 people. It leaves 20,000 rather frustrated and sometimes angry fans looking for a place to vent their concerns. This recently happened at a major new sports venue. The management team decided to ignore the Fire Marshal's occupancy limits, and the resulting crush of people invaded the spaces reserved for regular seating ticket holders. The customers that pre-paid for their tickets were none to happy. Bathrooms were overloaded, long waits at concession stands, and many that did not ever get to see the game.
Further information can be gleaned by reading the article in the Dallas Morning News:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/092209dnmetpartypasses.4026d63.html and this article on Yahoo: http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-cowboys-partypass&prov=ap&type=lgns

Auditorium Safety Webinar Now Available at SchoolDude

These folks have graciously invited me to co-present a webinar about auditorium safety management. The event was live on Nov 18, 2009 and titled "Facility Masters Webinar Series: Auditorium and Theatre Safety".  It has been archived and can be viewed at http://discover.schooldude.com/forms/2009-11-RY-FM-MD-AuditoriumSafety.

At the SchoolDude web site you can watch and listen to the presentation by Host Roger Young, New Mexico Deputy Fire Marshal Ray Wolf, myself, and SchoolDude Mayor David Kornegay.  There are also many document and presentation downloads available.

Depending upon your area of theatre involvement, some aspects of this webinar may not seem interesting, however, please be patient and take the time to watch and listen all the way through it. There are points of information throughout it that relate directly to the theatre safety issues.  Please pass this link on to your school maintenance and management officials, too, so that they can see how facility management relates to theatre safety.

National Fire Prevention Week - Keep Those Egress Paths Clear

I found this house right EXIT blocked, so blocked in fact, that I could not open the door.

So I went around to the outside and I found this:

I'm not sure how they got the chairs packed in there like that, but it sure was a serious violation of the Life Safety Code if I ever saw one.

NOTE to anyone working in theatres: YOU CAN'T DO THIS! It endangers everyone in the building.

National Fire Prevention Week - Reducing the Fuel Load

So, what is this you are looking at? It's costumes (some neatly bagged in plastic) hanging from a batten over the stage. This type of storage should be discouraged for a variety of reasons:

• It contributes to the fuel load on the stage should a fire break-out.
• If the bags and synthetic materials catch fire, or even are exposed to fire, they will melt and drip molten plastic droplets onto anyone / anything that is below them.

For more information about fire retardants in the theatre, visit the Chicago Artists Resource web site: http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/node/9532

For more information about fire retardants for use on paper and cardboard download: http://texcoatpaper.com/standards.pdf

Intumescent paint is another good tool for the scene and prop shops. This paint 'chars' on the surface and prevents fire from getting to the combustible material behind it. Here are some resources for this:

• “NoBurn” (http://www.noburn.com/)
• “FlameStop” (http://www.flamestop.com/)
• “FireFree88” (http://www.firefree.com/ff88.php)
• “PaintToProtect” (http://www.painttoprotect.com/)
• PPG "SpeedHide” (http://www.corporateportal.ppg.com/NA/PAF/PMC/Brands/FPC/400_Intumescent/)
• Contego “Fire Barrier” (http://www.contegointernational.com/)

The "NoBurn" web site has a great selection of videos showing the effectiveness of intumescent paints, too. Take a look at the 2003 American National Insurance Company Demonstration.