[SML] Orch Pit Nets

[Bill Conner]

Always an interesting topic. If there are employees near out and if the
fall hazard is greater than 48", OSHA requires protecting employees from
the hazard.  (I thought there was a place in OSHA that required a guard at
30", like the building and fire codes, but can't find it.  Related:
reports of OSHA rules not allowing the typical 3" gap between channels on
gridirons. Beware.)

NFPA 101 Life Safety Code requires:

12.2.11.1.6.1
Guards shall not be required in the following locations:
(1) On the audience side of stages, raised platforms, and other raised
floor areas such as runways, ramps, and side stages used for entertainment
or presentations
(2) At vertical openings in the performance area of stages
(3) Where the side of an elevated walking surface is required to be open
for the normal functioning of special lighting or for access and use of
other special equipment.
12.2.11.1.6.2 *
Where a guard is ordinarily required but not provided in accordance with
12.2.11.1.6.1(1) or 12.2.11.1.6.1(2), a written plan shall be developed and
maintained to mitigate the fall hazards of unguarded raised floor areas and
vertical openings on stages.

And the annex offers this explanation:

A.12.2.11.1.6.2
The written plan should identify the unguarded areas and should include
precautions and provisions to mitigate the fall hazard. Such precautions
and provisions might include the following:
(1) Training
(2) Choreography
(3) Blocking
(4) Rehearsal
(5) Restricted access to the stage
(6) Restricted access to unguarded edges
(7) Warning lights
(8) Audible warnings
(9) Tactile edges
(10)Warning barriers
(11)Signage
(12)Temporary barriers
(13)Personal fall protection
(14)Fall restraint
(15)Spotters

I have routinely insisted on a net or a tensioned wire grid just under the
pit filler on all my projects.  I like the TWG because it protects
the people installing and removing the filler.  On one project, discussing
with the rigging foreman supervising the installation, he noted he had just
come from a project where one of his crew was injured installing the pit
filler.  Not quite what I meant by "installing" but work.

Before too many more years I hope to put requirements in IBC/IFC similar to
the NFPA.



On Mon, May 20, 2024, 1:53 PM Kristi R-C via Stagecraft <
stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:

> Yes - Pit nets are ubiquitous and an excellent solution.
>
> Joe Menhart at InCord is the resident expert. Tell him I sent you.
>
> Kristi RC
>
> On Monday, May 20, 2024, 10:35:49 AM CDT, Jeffrey Kanyuck via Stagecraft <
> stagecraft at theatrical.net> wrote:
>
>
> Hello All,
>
>      Hitting the orchestra pit net situation. We have a new theater
> designed for us with a movable orchestra pit.
>
> The designers did not feel it was needed to have a net for while the pit
> was down. They said they have only done it for cruise ships when there is a
> real change of something going into the pit by accident.
>
>      We actually had someone fall into our other theater’s pit last spring
> and luckily it had a net.
>
>      Isn’t a pit net a standard for the industry? Or is it like hand rails
> where once the performer is “used” to the situation they can be removed or
> even less than that?
>
>      I am concerned that with a new theater we aren’t hitting appropriate
> standards of safety with this if we don’t have a net.
>
>
>
> Jeff Kanyuck
>
>
>
>
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