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March 2010

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Rigging Basics
Expert advice if you are considering rigging in your church

Flying loudspeaker systems is a serious business and should be treated with the utmost care and caution.

By Michael S. Eddy

If you are doing an event or using drama for your services, flying can add another dimension, but you must think long and hard to determine if it’s really worth it. You want to add this element so that you have complete control, because an accident or injury is probably not what the ministry had in mind for dramatic effect.

Proper rigging systems are designed, engineered, and manufactured with a lot of safety built in, but a rigging system in the end is only as safe as the people operating and maintaining it. If you have a space with an existing rigging system, always remember—these are machines and mechanisms that need to have trained staff operate and maintain them as there are a lot of factors in play. And, be sure to keep up on your yearly safety inspections. If you are building a new worship facility or renovating one to include rigging, you need to include an engineer in the initial planning, as rigging systems tie into the structure of a building.

You should also speak with a range of rigging manufacturers and see their products in actual use; never choose a product from a catalog or cutsheet. Speak with a rigging installer or dealer. There are many that are affiliated with Entertainment Services & Technology Association (ESTA). This is a non-profit trade association whose members meet specified requirements and who subscribe to a Code of Conduct. In fact, ESTA has recently begun a certification process for riggers, The Entertainment Technician Certification Program (ETCP) rigging certification.

THE EXPERTS SPEAK
I recently spoke with Bill Sapsis, president of Sapsis Rigging, who installs rigging as well as conducts safety inspections and holds a seat on the ETCP Council. Sapsis was instrumental in the development of the rigging certification exam. I also spoke with Tom Young, vice president of marketing with the rigging manufacturer J.R. Clancy Inc., and Chris Gille, systems director for Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and want to share some of their thoughts and cautions.

They all agreed that when you are considering incorporating rigging into your church, there are many things to take into account before you even begin to tie the first knot. If you are planning new construction or a renovation, then you are most likely considering a permanent rigging system. If you are looking to have rigging for an event and you don’t have a rigging system, you might look at a temporary or rented system. Young points to an advantage of one option, “Permanent rigging can be engineered to meet the specific project requirements, and can be integrated into the building structure— both from a strength point of view, and to blend with the architecture.”

Sapsis points out, “All rigging situations bring issues with them, but temporary rigging tends to be less thought out, thereby resulting in a more dangerous condition. With permanent rigging there’s a better chance that an engineer of some sort was involved with the rigging system design. With a temporary system, churches tend to turn to members of the congregation to design and install the system. The congregation members, while not lacking in desire, sometimes don’t have the prerequisite experience.”

Gille urges, “Even if renting equipment, spend the money to make the rigging point permanent. Chances are when everyone sees what you are doing with the point, it’s going to come up again, with better and bigger ideas, and you’ll be glad the point is ready and rated.”

In a manual counterweight system where weights are used to balance the load, operators can use ropes and mechanical advantage to lift battens with scenery or lighting.

WHERE TO START: MANUAL VS. AUTOMATED
One of the first things that needs to be addressed with a rigging system is the engineering of the system and how it integrates with the building. Young says start by thinking, “Loads—a structural engineer must be involved, preferably in the design stage, long before the installation. Access for maintenance is also important—rigging is moving machinery and needs to be inspected and maintained on a regular basis.” Sapsis concurs with the load-rating consideration: “Load ratings of the structure are a key ingredient to a rigging system design. In churches there tends to be a more cavalier approach to this. Two guys standing on the floor looking up at a wood laminate beam and one of them decides, ‘Yeah, that’ll hold,’ does not an engineered system make.” Gille strongly advises to “use a rigging company in cooperation with a structural engineer. Neither can fully replace the other.”

The two basic types of rigging systems, manual or automated, each have their own pros and cons. A manual system is normally a counterweight system where weights are used to balance the load and by using ropes and mechanical advantage, you can lift battens with scenery or lighting. With an automated system, a motorized winch does all the heavy lifting; there are no weights to handle in this system.

In manual counterweight systems like the one in this diagram, the counterweights, made of flame cut steel or cast iron, are placed in arbors to balance the weight of loads hung on battens.

Here are some things to consider between these two options. Young states that “some of the first questions are, ‘who will be operating the system,’ and ‘how will it be used.’ Manual rigging has a low purchase cost, but requires skilled, knowledgeable operators. Automated rigging is easier to operate, but it has a higher initial cost.” Sapsis agrees that staff and skill levels do weigh into the equation. “The primary concern should be the skill level of the operators and the type of training that’s available to them. The less experience the staff has, the less they should consider a manual system. It doesn’t take much experience to run a counterweight system when things are running smoothly, but when something goes wrong it takes a fair amount of experience to know what to do next.”

Gille agrees. “As long as a motorized system is inspected, maintained, and operated within the load-limit range, then it’s a button pushed by one trained individual. Other systems often require multiple people to operate for load-in/- out to balance, so crew or team size and expertise and budget should steer the decision,” he says.

“In the planning stages for your new facility, whether new construction or renovation, you should be prepared in advance to answer questions for the consultant or structural engineer. The church group needs to bring a wealth of information to the discussions with the engineers and consultants,” explains Sapsis. “A better informed client makes for a better designed system, one that will function in a way to fulfill the client’s wishes, safely. It’s not so much the questions they need to ask, but the statements they need to make.

They (the church) really do need to have a clear picture of what they hope to accomplish. Is the system going to do a simple angel flight once a year or will there be many different productions throughout the year?”

With an automated system, a motorized winch does all of the heavy lifting; there are no weights to handle. Shown here, a line shaft winch system.

Gille adds that church staff should think about these questions: What’s the maximum anticipated (imagined) load? Maximum distributed load? Load per square foot? “You should put numbers on these so they can be posted as reminders five years later,” he adds. Young strongly suggests that you do your research in preparation. He recommends the paper “How to Talk to Your Structural Engineer” by Shawn Nolan, P.E. of Cincinnati, Ohiobased Entertainment Structures Group. There is a wealth of information in the newsletter section of the company’s website, which can be found at esg.ssastructural.com.

PROPER TRAINING & ALL-IMPORTANT SAFETY
All rigging systems are mechanical systems where a lot is going on at one time. Operators need to be trained and supervised and safety procedures need to be in place for everyone that works on or around these systems. “Operators must be trained—either by the manufacturer or [by] other qualified instructors,” states Young. “A list of trained, authorized operators should be kept; only those people should operate the equipment. The rigging manufacturer or installing dealer can help you with training and safety procedures.”

The website www.rigging-safety.com is a great resource for training and rigging safety information. Sapsis concurs, saying, “There should be an intensive class in not only the safe operation of the system, but also how to check the system and how often, [as well as] a class on basic maintenance of the system.” Training is key to Gille, too, “Training at Willow Creek is like an apprenticeship, months and months of working together prepare new riggers for making decisions and working in the air. We all cross-check each other’s decisions and we invite each other’s inspections, and invite outside riggers and consultants to do the same,” he states.

An electric winch performs the heavy lifting in a motorized system; there are no weights to handle in this type of system.

In addition, Gille finds that the idea of having a second, outside set of eyes on the rigging helps him. “Bring in a rigging company for a project every now and then. Just having them in the building near your rigging is a great thing. Also, they are trained to speak up if they see something that needs inspection or correction,” he suggests. And he adds, “Cross-check each other. Also ponder back-up plans. What if something goes wrong—and it will—what is the safest thing to do? Yelling ‘heads!’ the moment something is loose as a reaction could mean an additional ½-second for those below to respond. We’ll keep this awareness fresh by often yelling down from the grid every time there is a loose tool overhead in use, and even every time a pin is separate from a shackle, ‘open shackle.’ We don’t drop shackle pins—I’m glad to report—but we know that that’s the most dropped item in the industry, so it keeps us on our toes, and therefore we keep those on stage on their toes.”

If you are going to bring in a temporary rigging system for a production, there are still many more things to keep in mind. “It needs to be bomb-proof if it’s over people’s heads,” says Gille. “The risks, injury, lawsuits, and potential of death should be seriously considered before just adding an effect for effect’s sake.”

Sapsis goes back to thinking about the structure and how it will relate to the additional load. “The impact on the building structure is a big concern. I’ve seen too many rigs flown from undersized bar joists. The client thinks, ‘Hey, that’s holding up my building so it’s got to hold up my lights and the angels, right?’ Usually not. And then there’s the time when a rig is set up that doesn’t get connected to the building at all, even though it should be. The powers that be at the church are concerned about damaging their structure, so they only allow some sort of ground support system. And then that ground support system has no lateral support because they can’t tie it into the building,” he reports.

RIGGING BASICS GLOSSARY Batten: A bar usually made from steel pipe, from which scenery, lights, and curtains are hung. Counterweight: (n) Weights, usually flame cut steel or cast iron, that are placed in counterweight arbors to balance the weight of loads hung on battens. (v) The act of adding or removing weight from a set in order to achieve a balanced system. Dead Hung: Directly fixed to the structure or attached at a fixed elevation using chain, rods, or cable. Electric: A name given to a pipe batten used to support lighting equipment. Factor of Safety: The ratio between the rated working load of a component or system and its minimum ultimate breaking strength. Fly: The act of lifting scenery, lights, and curtains. Gridiron (Grid): An open floor, usually made from light steel channels or grating, that is located near the roof steel. It provides mounting locations for rigging equipment and access to that equipment for inspection and maintenance. Line Set: A system consisting of one or more lift lines and related components operating together to lift, lower, or suspend a load. Limit Switch: An electro-mechanical switch that trips (changes state) when contacted by a moving device. They are used to halt the motion of a winch or other electro-mechanical device. Live Load: That part of a system load that may be added or deleted (i.e., lights hung from a pipe batten). Motorized Rigging: A rigging system using powered winches and other devices to move equipment, as opposed to muscle power. Out-of-Balance: A condition that exists when the weight of a batten, fittings, and attached loads do not equal that of counterbalancing equipment such as counterweight and an arbor. For safe and efficient use, manually operated sets should be balanced to within 50 pounds of neutral. Rigging: All of the hardware used to lift, lower, and hold performance equipment on or above a stage. Set: A system of cables, pulleys, lifting devices, and battens that hold a specific set of scenic elements, curtains, or lights. Shackle: A U-shaped device with holes at each end to accommodate a pin or bolt; used to connect a rope, cable, or chain to another device or a hanging point.

If you are going to rent the flying system for the production, you need more than just equipment. “They should not only rent the system but they should rent the people to install and run it,” says Sapsis. Insurance is another consideration with a rented system. “You should rent the system through a rigging company, or through a rental house with a rigger,” says Gille. “Someone needs to have the liability of the rented system under their insurance policy.”

The experts have seen a lot of good—and bad—rigging in their day. Young sees “well-meaning individuals using unrated hardware, attached to structures with no known support capacity—a recipe for disaster. Do it right—work with experienced, qualified engineers, riggers, and operators.” Sapsis concurs: “Hire a professional for the design of the system and to supervise the installation and operation. The volunteers may be engineers and astrophysicists, but they probably don’t have theatrical rigging experience. Having a professional oversee them will help prevent accidents and avoid injuries.”

Gille’s advice is to think about all that could go wrong. “It may sound morbid, but every time you rig something, imagine the worst case scenario before walking away. Let the healthy fear and awesome respect for the powers of gravity and mass and velocity challenge your conscious and help you walk away confidently and peacefully, or else change whatever needs changing, or add that redundant safety system. I need to be able to sleep under it during an earthquake before letting my friends under the load. Anyone doing rigging should be able to tie life-saving knots without thinking about it. They should know that anything that can affect people needs margins and factors beyond working load limits.”

Michael S. Eddy writes about design and technology. He can be reached at mseddy2900@hotmail.com.

Quick Links

ENTERTAINMENT SERVICES & TECHNOLOGY
ASSOCIATION (ESTA)
Entertainment Technician Certifi cation Program (ETCP)
(212) 244-1505 • etcp.esta.org

ENTERTAINMENT STRUCTURES GROUP
(A DIVISION OF STEVEN SCHAEFER
ASSOCIATES INC.)
Structural engineering services
(800) 542-3302 or (513) 542-3300
HTTP://ESG.SSASTRUCTURAL.COM/

J. R. CLANCY INC.
Manual and automated rigging systems
(800) 836-1885 or (315) 451-3440
www.jrclancy.com

SAPSIS RIGGING INC.
Rigging systems installation and safety inspection
(800) 727-7471 or (215) 228-0888
www.sapsis-rigging.com