A truss goes up at eight in the morning and nobody in the room thinks about it again. A truss is the aluminium framework that lighting and screens hang from, and it sits directly over the seats you sold. Event rigging safety is also the one part of an audio visual (AV) hire that falls under its own set of regulations, separate from the rest of the kit in the van. Most organisers have never been told that, so the questions they ask about rigging tend to be the wrong ones.
In short
- Hanging a truss is a lifting operation in law, so it has to be planned by a competent person, properly supervised and carried out safely.
- A venue’s rigging points are only as good as the documents behind them: an identification mark, a safe working load and a current report of thorough examination.
- Chain hoists and slings carry inspection dates, and you can ask to see them before anything is hung.
Hanging a truss is a lifting operation
Most of what an AV supplier brings to your event is covered by the general rules on work equipment. Rigging is different. The moment a motor raises a bar of lighting off the floor, the job falls under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, usually shortened to LOLER.
The wording is short and worth reading once. Regulation 8 requires that every lifting operation involving lifting equipment is properly planned by a competent person, appropriately supervised and carried out in a safe manner. A lifting operation is any activity that raises or lowers a load, so it covers the chain hoist pulling a truss up into position. It also covers the de-rig at the end of the night, when everyone is tired and the vans are waiting. De-rig is the part where the build comes back down.
What event rigging safety asks of you, not your crew
You are not expected to plan the lift. You are expected to have appointed people who can, and that duty does not move once you have handed the job over. The National Rigging Advisory Group puts it plainly in its guidance on roles: you may employ others to help meet the duty, and engaging a production manager is one way of doing it, but they must then check that the contractors engaged on your behalf are competent.
Our usual position on equipment applies here with more force than anywhere else. Specify the kit before you understand the event and you get the wrong kit. With rigging, what you are hanging is a decision about the ceiling and the people sitting underneath it, not a line on an equipment list.
A venue’s points are a document, not a ceiling
This is the check almost nobody makes, and it is the easiest one. NRAG’s guidance on rigging from points provided by a venue says that each fixed rigging point should carry an unambiguous identification mark and a safe working load (SWL), marked on the point itself or shown on a venue drawing readily available to whoever attaches equipment to it. It is good practice for a venue to hold an inspection regime and documents identifying every point and its SWL, and to have a current report of thorough examination for each point used for lifting.
So the useful question is not whether a venue has rigging points. It is which points, at what SWL, and when they were last examined. On the AllSaints 30th event we adapted the rigging to the building’s architecture, and that is only possible once you know what the building will carry.
Everything that lifts has a date on it
Chain hoists, slings and the points themselves are all lifting equipment, and the Health and Safety Executive sets out how often each has to be looked at. Unless an examination scheme applies, thorough examination is due every 6 months for all lifting accessories and for any equipment used to lift people, and every 12 months for other lifting equipment.
A thorough examination is a systematic and detailed examination carried out by a competent person, meaning somebody with the practical and theoretical knowledge to find a defect and judge how much it matters. The HSE adds that this should not be the same person who does the routine maintenance on that equipment. Each report names the date of the examination and the date the next one falls due, which is why a good supplier answers the question in seconds.
What competence looks like when you ask for it
There is a recognised standard to ask about. The National Rigging Certificate (NRC), run by PLASA with NRAG, comes at Level 2 for riggers working without direct supervision and Level 3 for the supervisor who oversees them. Asking which of the crew hold it, and who is supervising on the day, is a fair question and a quick one.
Read what it excludes, though, because that is the more useful half. The NRC does not cover rope access, performer flying, theatre rigging, structural engineering or ground support systems. A crew certified for general event rigging is therefore not automatically the right crew for a ground support tower in a field. Establish what the job involves before you accept a certificate as the answer.
The paperwork that should exist before anyone climbs
You do not have to read all of it. You do have to know it exists and is current. NRAG’s roles guidance lists what a rigging supervisor should be handed before a shift starts: rigging plots including loading information, datum and dimensions, risk assessments for every activity, method statements and lift plans, rescue plans wherever anyone is working at height, and the site specific information and house rules.
The rescue plan is the one that gets missed. Work at height is planned on the assumption that somebody might end up suspended and need bringing down quickly, and that plan belongs in the file before the get-in, which is the window when equipment can be brought into the building. The same guidance expects a talk at the start of every shift so the crew has actually heard what is in them.
Frequently asked questions
What counts as rigging at an event?
Rigging is anything suspended above the floor and the equipment holding it up. In a typical corporate room that means the truss carrying the lighting fixtures and any screen hung instead of stood on a frame. It also covers the chain hoists, slings and shackles connecting all of it to the building, and that connection is the part carrying the legal weight.
Who is responsible if the rigging goes wrong?
More people than usually expect to be. The organiser holds the duty to appoint contractors who are competent, and appointing a production manager to help does not move it. The venue is responsible for the safety of the points it provides. The rigging contractor is responsible for planning and carrying out the lift itself. Those duties overlap deliberately, so the honest answer is that nobody gets to point at somebody else.
How often does rigging equipment have to be inspected?
Under the Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations, thorough examination is due every 6 months for lifting accessories such as slings and shackles, and for anything used to lift people. Other lifting equipment is due every 12 months. An examination scheme drawn up by a competent person can set different intervals. Each report carries the date of the examination and the date the next one falls due.
Sources
- legislation.gov.uk · Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations 1998, regulation 8
- Health and Safety Executive · Thorough examination of lifting equipment
- PLASA and the National Rigging Advisory Group · Rigging from points provided by a venue
- PLASA and the National Rigging Advisory Group · Roles and responsibilities
Most of this is settled in one conversation, and a supplier who cannot answer it is telling you something worth knowing. We supply rigging alongside lighting, audio, video and staging from one source and deliver nationwide from Manchester, which means the people hanging the equipment and the people specifying it work for the same company. If you have a venue with points you have never used, or a room where nobody is sure what the ceiling will take, send us the plan. You can reach us through the contact page or by email at hire@eventproductiongroup.co.uk.
