SAFETY ON SET – Fear is our friend

Fear is often considered the enemy, but what is fear? and why do we experience it?

Most people are afraid of what they cannot control or of what they don’t understand.

Once anxiety takes over, most people revert to their instincts and or their fight or flight response takes over and they stop thinking rationally.

In fight and flight mode our instinct attempts to guide us to a safe outcome or at best give us a fighting chance to remove or save ourselves from the current situation we find ourselves in.

The fight and flight emotion dissipates over time, especially during elongated periods of danger such as drawn out conflicts or periods of unrest and our cognitive selves take over and begin to reason and rationalise with the situation. IE. We calm down and work the problem.

Unfortunately, in this current situation being the worldwide covid-19 pandemic, time and money is playing a big part in our decision making and for my money a great many people are not taking this virus seriously enough or they think that getting back to earning the almighty dollar is more important than the overall safety of themselves or others.

And what is that costing? Even more lives, time and money…  

The amount of people/companies that have said to me recently, we’ll be right or we can’t afford that, have been surprising... The world has changed, job descriptions have changed, the way work has changed the way we need to analyse and assess therefore must also change.

Having a she’ll be right attitude in the world we live in today isn’t just ignorant it’s downright dangerous… 

People should be afraid; this thing is scary… 

We lived through, we worked through and we got through it, because we were afraid, afraid of the reality of what could actually take place if we actually made a mistake…

Any cast or crew member out their today should be afraid, especially the ones leading the way, like the first AD’s and the producers because they are the ones that are going to be expected to lead and lead by example, these people are going to need a strong safety team who know their stuff working with them and behind them, supporting them, if they are going to succeed.

They and all of the cast and crew should demand to know the plans, demand that the production company has a safety management system in place that lets them know what the plan is and how it will be implemented. 

There will be changes and our fear will dictate those changes… A crew cannot operate safely and effectively if they a constantly distracted by fear, they must be made aware of what to be afraid of and also be shown what is being done to mitigate or remove those elements that place them at risk …Not just one virus, every element that pose a risk on set..

One of my fears is that we get all consumed concerning ourselves with the threat of covid-19 (it is a real threat I don’t discount it in any way) that we forget to concern ourselves with the remaining risk elements on a working set. There are a myriad of ever changes situations on a working film set that place cast and crew at risk every day, let’s not forget those factors while we are worrying about one element, let’s worry about them all at once.

Short cutting these situations and thinking ‘she’ll be right’ will only cost more money and create more fear… How do think the cast and crews of all the productions that have opened up prematurely, thinking she’ll be right’ are feeling right now, after having to shut down due to covid-19 outbreaks or violations on set? How do you think the financiers feel? How do think the local councils or residents feel that their areas have now been contaminated by outsiders? There are almost too many productions to count or name at the moment and at what cost?  Financially and emotionally...

To overcome our fears, changes need to be made, not outrageous changes, but significant enough, to succeed, cast, crew and producers need to be willing to make those changes, get on board with open minds and adapt to the new normal… 

It has to happen, not only for the safety of the cast, crew and others, it will have to happen because it will be demanded by the financiers, the insurers and the governing bodies that approve the projects.

Don’t think of it as a cost more of an investment toward success.

Embrace the fear, understand it and make plans to minimise it as much as possible, so you and your team can focus on the job that needs to be done… to get home safely at the end of it.

It can be done, we did it…