Health and Safety
Noise and Hearing: -What causes hearing issues in the music industry? Hearing issues in the music industry are usually caused by sharp painful sounds to the ears. For example, feedback and loud noises -Name some symptoms of hearing loss? Symptoms of hearing loss include ringing in the ears, hearing better out of one ear than the other and hearing being foggy or muffled. -What impact does hearing loss have on you? as a guitarist and a singer hearing loss can be a bug issue , some issues include not knowing were you are in a song and if you mess up 2 main parts of a band that can impact the quality of the rest of the band and the songs quality -How can you reduce the damage of you hearing? You can reduce damage to hearing by wearing hearing protection like ear buds and ear defenders to muffle the loud noises -Where can you get help with the noise/hearing issue? Places like Specsavers offer hearing help by prescribing you with hearing aids and advice on how to help it Vocal Health: -Misuse: Vocal and instrument misuse can cause harm and possibly permanent damage to your body which will affect your ability to sing/play. - Overuse: anything that strains or harms the vocal chord by overusing your voice in singing, shouting or screaming -New use: a new singer can be uneducated in ways on how to use there voice properly and can strain their vocal chords -How can you maintain good vocal health? You can do this doing various vocal warmups before singing, lubricating your throat to make sure it isn't dry or croaky and taking many vocal breaks were necessary -what can cause damage to your voice? Straining your voice by screaming, shouting and even speaking will eventually cause damage to your vocal chords down the line. Electrical Safety and PAT testing: -What equipment do we have to consider for electrical safety? Leads and cables can be a big hazard at music venues, so can be things like amps and sound systems. -which part of the equipment is most likely to become an issue? The pieces of equipment that would end up becoming the biggest issues are guitars and basses because they have the most amount of cables and leads requires in a gig -does equipment that is permanently in a venue cause more risks that a piece of equipment that is constantly moving? They both pose risks in the music environment but the equipment that is moving around constantly would pose mor of a risk as it could be an unexpected obstacle for some band members. -what is PAT testing? Portable appliance testing is the process of examining electrical appliances and equipment to ensure they are safe for use. -who should carry out PAT testing? Everyone should carry out PAT testing as it is an important part of keeping your instrument in check. -how often should PAT testing be carried out? PAT tests are recommended to be taken yearly to ensure sufficiency. Fire Safety: Why is fire safety something as a musician you should be thinking about? Fire safety is important as a musician because of the amount of equipment you have at gigs and performances. What actions should you take in any venue you are performing in? You should perform multiple tests to make sure everyone and the environment is safe with no risks. Temperature and Ventilation: Why is temperature an important part of health and safety? As a musician, practicing in small, humid and stuffy places can cause sanitary and health risks and practicing in a cold environment for long periods of time can cause illnesses so it's always important to keep a steady temperature. What should employers be considering for ventilation? They should open all windows and doors to ensure a steady fresh air flow throughout the venue. Terrorism Precaution: What risks are associated with terrorism? Injuries and damages to properties and people. Advice/actions that you should consider at venues to keep each other and yourself safe? Make sure PAT tests are up to date, ensure fire exits aren't blocked, and people know where they are, and keep the venue well ventilated.
To Whom it may concern, I am writing to discuss the importance of health and safety for staff and students in the music department. As an attending music student at Cronton sixth form college I believe the most important aspect of our college lives is being safe within the college. I believe this as going by the correct health and safety procedure we can prevent injuries and harm to staff and students. As we have got the reasoning of this email out of the way I would like to discuss a few minor concerns of mine in our department. Fire Safety I have one concern in our department about fire safety and it is that in our rehearsal space also known as the hub we have received the wrong fire extinguishers. This is in no use to us as this fire extinguisher is only for wood, paper and material and inside the hubs is mainly electrical equipment. This is my biggest concern out of them all as in a fire emergency there is no way for us to prevent the fire. Noise and Hearing This important for us as students as a lot of the time we are playing in loud spaces with multiple people and that be quite damaging to the ears so I would recommend as a very important item for the course, ear defenders to help protect students and teachers from any permanent damage like tinnitus and other forms of permanent damage. Vocal/Instrument health For our department the use of our voices and instruments is very important to us as students and when they are used wrong for many reasons such as misuse, overuse and new use it can cause permanent damage to us or our instrument so it would be a nice touch to add to our course how to use our voices and instruments safely to not cause any permanent damage. Electrical and PAT Testing For electrical equipment is safe to say that things can go wrong within the electrics of the apartment and in our department making sure our electrical equipment for our staff and students is up to date is vital. So I believe that for our department and possibly many others that regular PAT testing should be organised for all of our equipment in the hub and the playhouse as we go along so our electrical equipment is safe to travel to venues and furthermore it should be labelled for when it was pat tested and when it was approved to be safe to use. Temperature and Ventilation For our students and staff rehearsing/being in a small stuffy humid space can cause sanitary and health risks for all members of our team. This is a big problem as our rooms in the hub can be quite small so finding a good temperature to play in can be a struggle sometimes and can leave people feeling uncomfortable so I believe that in order for this to change we need ventilation checks and possibly more ventilation stored in the hub to make sure all students and staff members are comfortable in there working space to move forward and progress in there work. Conclusion In conclusion I personally think from a visual stand point and from my knowledge that the up keep and maintenance in our department is fairly taken care off apart from a few aspects that could be improved however, from reading this hopefully it ups the expectations of what is needed for our course students and staff. Kind regards Ryan’s Smith.
this is my risk assesment on the hub