Safety first - Your outdoor cinema supplier

Looking to host your very own outdoor cinema/open-air cinema event? Choosing the right supplier for your equipment hire could make or break your event.

As the event organiser, it is your duty to ensure that your event is safe and complies with all health and safety regulations and guidelines. Although this might sound daunting, a wealth of information is available online, including template documents like 'risk assessments' and 'event management plans' to assist you in planning your event safely. You might also consider hiring a 'safety officer' or a third-party 'event management' company for advice or assistance in managing your event.

Using a 'Outdoor Cinema' supplier for your equipment hire can reduce some of the work load.

All reputable suppliers should cover all health and safety aspects of your cinema equipment hire, ensuring all AV equipment is safe and meets legal requirements.

When collecting quotes for your hire, ask what documents will be provided. You should be provided with the following as a minimum:

• Insurance Documents

• Risk Assessment (Equipment)

• Method Statement

• Structural Engineer Report

• Wind Management Plan

Insurance Documents

Public liability insurance is a legal requirement and covers the business for any legal action that may arise due to injury and damage claims brought against the business by a third party.

Your AV supplier may also have insurance to cover the cost of accidental damage to equipment. This is not a legal requirement but is highly recommended as it will remove (or reduce) your responsibility for damage to equipment, which could cost thousands of pounds. 'All risk' insurance covers accidental damage, fire, and theft of equipment. There may be clauses such as security is required overnight or equipment must not be left unattended.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment is a document that highlights potential risks and how to minimise them. If a potential risk is too high, the document should highlight this risk and find a way to reduce the risk to an acceptable level or find an alternative solution. Your AV supplier's risk assessment will only cover their equipment and activities at your event. You will require your own event risk assessment to cover all other aspects of the event.

Method Statement

This document outlines what services your AV supplier will provide, what their responsibilities are, what your responsibilities are, and how these are going to be achieved. It will also provide information about how equipment is set up and the estimated time duration for the process. A method statement will help you plan your event and understand your responsibilities.

Temporary structure with concrete blocks as ballast.

Structural Engineer Report

Temporary outdoor structures can be dangerous and pose a real potential risk to life if set up or used incorrectly. LED video screens and their structures are built on-site and are classified as 'Temporary Demountable Structures'. A structural engineer's report is written and produced by a qualified engineer. The report takes into consideration the weights of the screen and structure and potential wind conditions, ensuring the structure can safely support the outdoor screen.

The document will state a maximum allowed wind speed at which the structure is safe to be used and may highlight requirements like additional ballast (weights) required on the base of the structure to prevent it from sliding or tipping in the wind. The document is very technical, and you may not understand all of it; however, it is important to have a copy of the document for your records.

If your AV supplier can not supply this document you may want to consider other providers.

Wind Management Plan

This document uses data from the above structural engineer document to highlight the safe operation of equipment in all weather conditions. It will state the maximum wind speed at which the structure and screen can be safely used and what actions need to be taken at different wind speeds. It is important to understand the document as it will specify when your event needs to be postponed or canceled due to high winds or other weather conditions.

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All these documents should be tailored to your event and based on your event location, unique hazards, and equipment supplied. The above documents take time and money to produce. Unfortunately, this means some suppliers may not provide all the required documents to save on costs or may not follow the documents when installing equipment.

Although this may reduce your hire costs, in the long run, it may cost you substantially more with the potential for injury and/or your event having to be canceled.

It's crucial to find an AV supplier you trust and feel confident in, as this can greatly simplify the process of hosting an outdoor cinema.

Shine Cinema provides all the above documents with our 'Outdoor Cinema packages' as standard. Our staff is experienced in building our temporary event structures in line with all supplied documents and legal requirements.

Looking to hire a Outdoor Cinema? Contact Shine Cinema today for a quote info@ShineCinema.co.uk

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