Together with our partners CEPI, FIAPF, FIA and FIM, we have launched an Online Risk Assessment Tool (OIRA) for audiovisual productions on the 14th of April 2021. The tool that took two years of development is based on a close cooperation between the partners and their member organisations. The project that has received financial support from the European Union also benefitted from the infrastructure, know-how and support of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work. For UNI MEI, Eleonor Fahlen, European Vice President and Health and Safety Representative of the Swedish Union for Performing Arts and Film has steered our work in the expert working group that designed and tested the tool. Our thanks go to her for the commitment and work and for making sure that the needs and views of crew members are well reflected in the online tool.
The result is a flexible tool designed to reflect the practical and multiple needs of the productions; it has been developed based on European Directives and European best practices in the sector, but it might also serve as reference outside European borders. Moreover, considering the open-source nature of the tool, each EU/EEA Member States can develop its own national adaptation. This carefully crafted tool makes expert guidance on risk assessment in the audiovisual sector both readily accessible and applicable in practice. The project partners want to promote a broad dissemination of the OiRA tool for the audiovisual sectors and invite their members to widely promote the tool adoption into the daily work practice of productions.
The tool was launched during an an international online event that saw the participation from EU Member States and extra EU countries including Chile, Ivory Coast, Japan, Nigeria, Peru, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, and United States. The large audience participation testifies the great interest from the audiovisual eco-system regarding occupational health and safety proving that the creation of the tool has intercepted the real needs of small and medium-sized audiovisual companies.
With the publication of the tool and the online event the two-year project has come to an end, but the partners’ cooperation to promote the tool and further enhance health and safety in audiovisual production. Please find here the link to the joint partners’ statement on the conclusion of the project and the link to access the final event recordings and documents.
