WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety (OSHA) and Health Administration has made some changes regarding their documents on overhead lifting, some of which pertains to permanently-installed theatrical rigging systems.
“Apparently the numbers of accidents have gone down in the past few years, and the standards have been simplified,” noted Tom Young of JR Clancy, which included notification of some of the changes in a newsletter sent out to the industry. The Federal Register has detailed information on the changes.
“For many years we’ve used OSHA 29 CFR 1926.550 ‘Cranes and Derricks’ as being the closest to covering permanently-installed theatrical rigging,” Young added. “A major revision of the OSHA documents was made a year ago. OSHA 29 CFR 1926.550(a)(6) is no longer on the OSHA site.”
JR Clancy also noted that “OSHA states that ‘29 CFR 1910.179 applies to overhead or gantry crane that is permanently installed in a facility.’
“There are some sections that are appropriate to theatrical practice, and some that are not,” Young noted, adding, “There is some good guidance,” and it can be downloaded from the OSHA site at no cost.
For more information, please visit www.osha.gov, http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=9832 and www.jrclancy.com.
