HSE Video Production: Location Knowledge Is Key
HSE Video Production: Location Knowledge Is Key
The team at anderson studios has over 50 years of collective experience in creating high-quality, bespoke health and safety video (HSE video production) and training material.
In addition to all the regular rigours of a video shoot, some of these HSE projects take us to locations where health and safety considerations are paramount.
These requirements vary greatly from client to client and location to location, so we spend a lot of time in pre-production planning for our shoot and preparing in this way.
Here’s why location knowledge is important when creating HSE video
culture of the people and area
We work in locations worldwide that differ greatly from our native South Africa.
As a team we always aim to prepare ourselves as much as possible to understand the area and culture of the location (and client) we are visiting, including learning as a minimum some conversational knowledge of the language of the region.
It really makes a difference to the client when they can see that we’ve gone to this extra effort. It is extremely beneficial, or as they say in Angola, é uma boa coisa a fazer!
logistics
We work with various local partners with an intricate knowledge of the logistics of the area.
This is crucial for us, as having a local partner who speaks the language of the area fluently is key to us getting around efficiently and being able to communicate effictively with the client.
training requirements
Many of the areas we travel to for filming come with their own unique set of training requirements.
For example, when working offshore on oil and gas platforms, before we even depart for the shoot there are a number of certifications and training programmes that we complete to ensure we are fully accreddited and knowledgeable on the areas, risks and plans of action should anything go wrong.
When looking at filming offshore, the training we most recently had to complete (or more accurately, do a “refresher” on) included HUET (Helicopter Underwater Escape Training), Firefighting, First Aid, H2S Survival Training, Boat Transfer Training and Personal Survival Training.
We enjoy this part of the process a lot, as it doesn’t only provide us and our clients with peace of mind, but also intrinsically flows into our scriptwriting and how we film and put together the videos.
It’s extremely challenging to write a script about health and safety without truly entrenching oneself in the material and culture of safety, and we feel that our hands-on training means our videos are better as a result.
health and safety
The most important factor for us to keep in mind is that we are often filming in hazardous areas with many safety risks and procedures, so we also request a safety orientation for each new area we visit.
Sometimes working in these conditions in full PPE (personal protective equipment) whilst adhering to all the rules of the platform can be strenuous and physically demanding, but we never say no to a challenge and are always looking forward to the next one.
As safety video producers, we need to lead by example when we are on location and always be thinking “Safety First”.