On Friday 18 February: Knots & Splicing - The course covers the handling of different ropes and tying knots proficiently and safely knots that are useful in a theatre situation. Attendees will learn to differentiate between various natural fibre ropes, splice rope ends and use tools for splicing, etc. Knots including bowline, clove hitch, reef knot, wagon hitch, rolling hitch and sheet bend.
On Friday 4 March: Counterweight Flying - The course objectives are to teach the safe handling of counterweight sets and will cover terminology, parts of a counterweight set, loading and unloading, operating, first line maintenance, single and double purchase systems, putting knots into practice, tying off at a pin rail, spotting and other methods of hanging.
On Friday 18 March: Manual Handling & Intro to Health & Safety - An introduction to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, followed by a Manual Handling course, which has been designed for mixed abilities groups; team lifting and dual handling form major constituents. By the end of the course, attendees will be able to demonstrate an awareness of types of injury and how they are caused during manual handling, and will also be able to demonstrate improved handling and lifting skills in a theatre environment.
(Lee Baldock)
