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To Act In Safety
Theatre is a place where magical things can happen – actors emerge out of the mist to tell their stories, imaginative sets roll out and exciting sword fights take place on stage. For those involved in theatre, the creation of a show can pose many potential safety hazards from the creation of sets, costumes and props with specialized knowledge and equipment; to the movement of furniture and actors under overhead lights or in complete darkness. Performers, technical theatre workers, volunteers, supervisors and management all share responsibility for health and safety in the theatre.
With financial support from The Ontario Trillium Foundation over three years (2001-2004), Theatre Ontario created a bold new initiative called To Act in Safety that delivers health and safety training to people at every stage of their theatre career and offers practical and accessible tools, and best practices that can be freely shared in cultural organizations all over Ontario.
Through this program, Theatre Ontario has:
- Completed extensive surveys examining the health and safety practices and policies of theatres all over Ontario – professional theatres, amateur theatres, municipal theatres, theatre training institutions and touring facilities.
- Delivered first aid training to over 380 theatre volunteers and theatre workers in 20 communities around Ontario.
- Worked with a team of health and safety theatre consultants to visit over 100 theatres in over 50 cities and towns in Ontario to deliver training and help create and implement health and safety policies and procedures specific to their theatre’s needs.
- Worked with over 800 people in one-on-one health and safety audits and health and safety policy development at theatres around Ontario and offered specialized training in WHMIS, fall protection, operation of lifts or firearms/pyrotechnics use.
- Collected a library of resources in health and safety specific to theatre that is available to the general public at Theatre Ontario’s Toronto offices.
- Developed new health and safety resources which are available free of charge from this website.
- Created new health and safety training resources that offer an easy-to-understand summary of a theatre’s liability and risk issues, best practices and checklists that make health and safety practices easy to implement.
- Worked with Humber College’s Arts Administration/Cultural Management program to develop a new continuing education course, Health and Safety in the Arts.
- Organized a network of theatres with knowledgeable leaders and consultants available to work with theatres on health and safety issues in the future.
Theatres all over Ontario have been generous in sharing their best practices and excellent resources in order to help other theatres improve their health and safety practices. Special thanks to Brock Centre for the Arts, Centrepointe Theatre, CAEA, CAPACOA, CCI, CITT, Drayton Entertainment, Markham Theatre for Performing Arts, National Arts Centre, Newmarket Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, ORSAC, OSSA, PACT, Port Stanley Festival Theatre, Shaw Festival, Stratford Festival and TTA for sharing their resources and offering training opportunities for their members.