Hosted by White Light in London, the seminar gives delegates a good understanding of how the Code of Practice should be used with the IET Wiring Requirements to provide safe electrical environments at events. According to White Light's head of production, Stuart Crane, "The BS7909 course proved to be a very useful day for me and my team. As well as confirming existing knowledge, it also proved to be very thought provoking and has made us look in greater detail at the way we design and install event distribution systems and the management of those systems whilst on site."
The seminar tutor, James Eade, is keen to point out the benefits of attending, "The seminar focuses on what the benefits and requirements are for designing electrical systems and hence why it is important and why the Standards exist. The feedback from the previous seminar proves that there is a lot of misunderstanding about the application of the standards and that proper design rarely features in anyone's planning."
There are the legal ramifications of getting it wrong when an inspector comes calling, but according to Eade, "That really is not the point - it's about encouraging the industry to see the benefits of making things safe and effective as a matter of course, not frightening it with the threat of the law or the HSE. The fallout from that is reduced time on site spent chasing interference problems, reduced equipment failures and less instances of electric shocks for example. It's not hard, doesn't take long and the results really are tangible."
The seminar covers a range of issues including the Standards required for temporary electrical systems, the need for effective management and uses typical examples to show how current methods used for distribution may not be safe. It is delivered using a combination of discussion and team exercises to reinforce the topics and is aimed at everyone who has involvement with electrical systems including audio, video and lighting rental companies, production management, venue owners and of course freelancers. Everyone involved in the production process will learn something from this seminar, regardless of previous experience.
(Jim Evans)
