Risk Assessments/Consent Forms

Before an shoot, a risk assessment must be carried out to ensure the safety of those involved. It is a good way of identifying the hazards with the most potential and the most effective ways to deal with them. We printed out the templates for the risk assessment from MyUCA which listed all of the potential risks. You then have to tick the ones that are most likely and rate them based on how likely and threatening they would be. The most prominent ones we highlighted were tripping, falling equipment that could land on people, illness/reactions from working with the birds and stress for the birds. These were all manageable as we will be a crew of four and can therefore ensure that there will be a few people to carry heavy equipment and watch whoever is on camera to ensure they are not about to walk into something or trip up. In terms of hygiene and bird safety, we will make sure to wash our hands after interacting with them as well as listening to Jo and the falconers for instructions when being around them.
After completing the risk assessment forms, I would say that we felt prepared to deal with any issues. We also printed off some consent forms which will hopefully be filled in on shoot day by Jo, Julie, Darren and Kayleigh who are all involved in the project. Consent forms are very important as they ensure that those involved are aware of the events taking place on the day and how they will be affected so they can make an informed decision on whether it is suitable for them.