Assessing risk made simple

Innovation is something for which the television and film industries are constantly striving. But there’s one aspect that has remained in the 20th century.

For too long, risk assessment has been trapped in an age of manually created Word documents and printed forms, making a task that very few have any love for even less appealing to those who have to carry it out.

For well over a decade now, RT Group, which has earned a reputation for industry-leading safety support and specialist risk management (safety, security and medical) on hit shows such as The Traitors, Gladiators and Race Across The World, has supported clients with its bespoke online risk-assessment tool, ORA, designed specifically for the TV, film and creative media industries.

RT Group recently launched the latest iteration of the system, which offers an array of new features that make it even easier and faster to complete comprehensive, tailored risk assessments for every shoot, while simultaneously encouraging productions to move away from paper.

“It’s the jewel in the safety crown,” says RT Group founder and managing director Alex Bohanna. “Custom-built from the ground up, it assures a much higher degree of accuracy and speeds up the process without reducing quality.”

ORA allows users to input information relevant to the specific circumstances being experienced on a given shoot, rather than selecting from pre-printed forms, and guides the risk assessor on how to comply with relevant legislation applicable to the activities being carried out and the hazards they present.

With this workflow, ORA delivers risk assessments that not only ensure production staff are aware of all the hazards they face, and the steps to be put in place to mitigate against them, but can also be relied upon legally to demonstrate compliance – something that, under the 1999 Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, employers are required to do.

“Nobody wants to be doing risk assessments, but it is a legal requirement so it’s important to get it right. We want to give our clients the best possible tools with which to meet those requirements,” says Bohanna.

As well as being available to anyone using the firm’s retained safety services, to ensure the system is accessible to start-ups and smaller companies working to a tight budget, there is now the option to subscribe on a production basis or opt for system-only access – forgoing the comprehensive support provided to retained clients by RT Group’s highly experienced safety team.

The design and development of the new ORA has been led by RT Group digital project manager Chris King.

“We’re seeking to create a system that is as user-friendly and intuitive as possible, and can be easily integrated into a client’s existing workflow – to streamline the process of risk assessing while simultaneously enhancing the quality of the assessments themselves – and I believe we’ve achieved that,” says King.

“We’re acutely aware of the challenges faced by productions, and ORA has been developed with the express intention of helping to overcome those related to assessing and mitigating risk effectively.”

ORA is designed to recognise an extensive range of filming hazards. It guides users step by step, prompting them to provide critical details that help gauge the scope and severity of each risk, while also offering strategies for effective mitigation.