At the start of 2020, many networks were abruptly forced to halt production and walk away from their projects due to COVID-19. To help ensure safety for the Entertainment Capital of the World, the County of Los Angeles Department of Public Health instated a reopening protocol for music, television, and film production. This science-supported and health expertise document allow entertainment production to resume safely during the COVID-19 pandemic. An integral part of this new safety protocol requires a workplace COVID-19 Compliance Officer also known as a CCO. This onsite personnel helps a production understand and enforce the LA County COVID-19 mandates. Although CCO’s are a requirement by the county, they also relieve the pressure of making sure employees are safe from disease while working.
So, what should I have in place before production to make sure I am within the safety guidelines?
For production to provide proper safety to its employees, A-Tech recommends the following before beginning production:
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- Production needs to supply its employees with Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This includes, but not limited to, masks, gloves, face shields, and personal hand sanitizer.
- Production should have an excess supply of PPE and disinfectant to avoid shortages due to shipping delays.
- Designate persons to handle COVID-related work. This includes a testing coordinator, someone to disinfect high-touch areas (ensures infection control), a compliance officer, PPE/disinfectant supplier.
- Set up a meeting via telecommunication with your production team. This will give productions a chance to explain the changes to your production and what is expected of the employee. This also allows for the CCO’s to introduce themselves and answer any questions your team may have.
- Make changes to filming locations and stages to allow for proper social distancing.
- Break crew down to only essential personnel are present on location; anyone who can work from home should stay home. The goal is fewer people mean less potential exposure.
- Signage related to COVID-19 safety measures (handwashing, mask-wearing, etc.).
- Create an outdoor designated break area where employees can be six feet or more apart; a place for the crew to stand-by and not be on stage.
- Place barriers/dividers in shared office spaces and in vehicles (if it is safe to do so).
How A-Tech can help
A-Tech provides COVID compliance officers that are responsible for establishing and enforcing COVID-19 safety protocols on production sets, training staff on protocols, and monitoring compliance. Your designated CCO team will provide a pre-production evaluation from experts with experience in infection control. They will consult production managers in creating and reviewing infection control protocols for new music, television, and film productions, revise established protocols, and generally provide consultation to CCO’s. Before production begins, or in the event of an employee testing positive, A-Tech can provide navigation on how to properly disinfect both small and large production and affected areas. Lastly, A-Tech can provide post-disinfectant COVID-19 surface sampling to ensure surfaces are properly disinfected.
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