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A New Guide

Health and Safety Policy

The Scottish Community Drama Association is committed to ensuring the health and safety of its employees, volunteers, participants and audience members at all events in which it is involved. The
National Executive is responsible for ensuring that appropriate safety plans and procedures are in place and that these are implemented by competent people. Health and safety incidents will be reported and the plans and procedures regularly assessed and updated to reflect experience.
SCDA’s health and safety plans address four main types of activity.

• Drama festivals organised by the Association
• Activities performed by the National Drama Advisor and any other employees
• Volunteers and visitors in SCDA’s library premises
• Other activities organised by the Association, such as meetings or workshops

Roles and responsibilities

Everyone taking part in a festival has a duty to look after their own safety and that of others. No-one should follow an instruction they are unhappy with. If in doubt, stop and ask the Club Stage Manager or Festival Stage Director.

Festival Stage Director

The Organising Committee will appoint a Festival Stage Director, (FSD). The FSD will provide advice to clubs on safety requirements and agree each club’s Safety Plan. The FSD has the right to impose additional safety measures if considered appropriate and will monitor the behaviour of club members against their Safety Plan. The FSD can stop a rehearsal or performance at any time if people are at risk. The FSD will ensure everyone involved in the festival understands the theatre’s safety rules. The FSD must also record and report any safety related incident or near miss to the Festival Organising Committee in writing.
 

Club Stage Manager

The Club Stage Manager, (CSM) of a performing club has primary responsibility for ensuring its members behave safely. The CSM must carry out a risk assessment, identify appropriate controls and submit a Safety Plan prior to the festival. Any specific hazards must be discussed with FSD prior to the Technical Rehearsal. The CSM must cooperate with the FSD by implementing the Safety Plan and ensuring everyone in the club understands its contents.

Protecting employees

Each employee of the Association shall undertake a risk assessment of their role with their line manager and agree a Safety Plan to address the issues raised. This will be periodically reviewed and updated.

Library

The script library is an SCDA-controlled workspace and a Safety & Security Plan will be in place to protect volunteers and visitors. The library will be provided with appropriate safety equipment and signage.

Other Activities

A Safety Plan will be in place for all SCDA activities, such as drama workshops or meetings at venues other than the SCDA library. For low-risk activities, such as a meeting, the Organiser can use a generic checklist. For more complex events, such as theatre workshops, a specific Safety Plan will  be developed supported by a risk assessment.

Monitoring implementation

The National Executive will implement a programme to audit the implementation of Safety Plans and incident reporting requirements. A member of the National Executive, and/or a Divisional or District Trustee will attend a number of festival safety briefings each year and occasionally monitor the risk
assessment process for workshops or similar events.


Around a quarter of SCDA activities will be audited each year, to complete an audit cycle every four years. Audit findings will be reviewed annually at the National Executive’s safety meeting and guidance updated to clarify and improve safety practices as required.

Incident Reporting

All safety incidents, including ‘near-misses’, at SCDA activities will be reported to the National Executive.

A member of the National Executive will be designated to receive and review Incident Reports and decide whether further investigation or action is needed in the short-term. All reports should be sent to a dedicated email address, safety@drama.scot 

If there is a serious incident, a ‘Safety Alert’ outlining the circumstances and recommended actions will be circulated to all Organising Secretaries and Festival Stage Directors.

Review and assessment

The National Executive shall carry-out an annual review of the Association’s safety performance, including Incident Reports, audit reports and other relevant inputs.

This meeting will agree revisions and improvements to the Safety Management System and distribute any ‘Lessons Learned’ to all festival Organising Secretaries and Festival Stage Directors. The meeting will also approve the Annual Safety Report.

Performance Reporting

An Annual Safety Report will be prepared by the designated member of the National Executive. This will include:

• Details of Incident Reports
• The result of audits of safety implementation
• Any ‘Lessons Learned’ circulated to Festival Organising Secretaries and Festival Stage Managers.
• Proposed improvements to the safety management system and its implementation.

A summary of the safety report will be included in the Association’s Annual Report submi6ed to the
AGM and OSCR. This will identify the number of Incident Reports received, any serious incidents or
audit findings and steps taken to improve health and safety performance.